Engineering process overview

1. The Riverlake Solutions article series
The engineering process
Riverlake Solutions has vast experience with the management of the engineering process for the development of tank
terminals and related infrastructure like underground pipelines or offshore on- and offloading systems. In this article
we provide a concise overview of the engineering process for a tank terminal.
Engineering an oil storage terminal is a sizeable and
costly effort. To make the engineering process
manageable it is typically split in a few steps that need
to be aligned with the rest of the development process
of the terminal. After each step the design should be
formally approved, after which it can be frozen to
prevent a going back and forth between steps.
Functional Requirements
The process of designing an oil storage terminal starts
with defining the functional requirements for the
terminal. This is often done by means of a checklist
that poses many questions. Such a checklist is to be
filled in by the people involved, ideally during
interviews with an experienced consultant. Based on
an analysis of the information provided, the functional
requirements can be determined that typically state the
following for a tank terminal:
Specifications of the products that will be stored
at the terminal
Expected flows of these products through the
terminal
The number and storage capacity of the tanks
Required loading and discharging capacities for
vessels, trucks, trains etc.
Description of the required utilities like electricity,
waste water treatment and fire fighting.
Conceptual Design
The next step after defining the functional
requirements is to make a conceptual design. Such a
design defines in documents and drawings the rough
outlines of the terminal and consists at least of the
following:
A facility description
A plot plan or lay-out
A Process Flow Diagram (PFD) of the product
pipeline systems
A description of the utilities
A conceptual design is used to visually present the
project to stakeholders and is the basis for the first
capital expenditure (CAPEX) estimations. Making a
conceptual design for a terminal is in itself not a big
effort, it can be done in a few weeks. In practice it
takes often much longer because several versions will
be made before all stakeholders agree with the design.
Only then the conceptual design can be frozen and the
next level of engineering can commence.
Basic Design
A basic design is based on the conceptual design but
much more comprehensive. A number of studies
needs to be executed by the engineers to size all
infrastructure properly. Just to mention a few typical
ones: geotechnical surveys, pressure drop
calculations, power consumption calculations, sewage
capacity calculations and fire safety scenario
development. The PFD will be detailed into Process
and Instrumentation Diagrams (P&ID’s) for all systems
and detailed specifications and lay-outs will be written
and drawn for all infrastructure elements. Making a
basic design is a major effort. It will take a team of
specialized engineers up to half a year, depending on
the required level of detail. The basic design is used
for one main purpose: to tender it to potential
contractors. They will base their proposals primarily on
this design.
Detailed design and construction engineering
The detailed design and construction engineering of
tank terminals is generally done by the construction
contractor(s) as part of their preparation for the
construction itself. As such, this detailed engineering is
also estimated as part of the construction itself.
Sometimes people assume that when a contract with a
construction contractor is signed, he can start with the
construction within a few weeks. Actually the
contractor needs a few months to engineer the
construction before he can order the required building
materials and can start construction on site.
3D designing
Nowadays a lot of engineering is done in three
dimensions. Tank terminals are most often designed
with AutoCAD, the most widely used Computer Aided
Design software in the world. With AutoCAD it is
relatively easy to add a third visual dimension to 2D
designs. Conceptual designs are generally designed in
2D to which the 3
rd
dimension is added at the end,
primarily for presentation purposes. In this way it is
possible to present the design rather realistically as if it
is photographed from various angles. Real 3D
designing is also possible with AutoCAD, but much
more time consuming and therefore primarily used for
construction engineering where it is important to
assure that all parts properly fit together in all
dimensions.
This article is provided to you by:
Riverlake Solutions SA
www.riverlakesolutions.com
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