Material supply simulation for offshore pipelaying construction

The planning and execution of offshore construction projects such as pipelaying, traditionally rely to a great extent on the expertise of the offshore personnel. The state of practice that is facilitated by this expertise often leads to good solutions, but it has the following limitations: (1) the expertise resides with a few experienced people who are not always available; (2) communication between the contractor and the customer is based on opinions and past experiences, and not necessarily on objective information; (3) consideration and comparison of alternative solutions and their impact on cost and time is not straightforward; (4) estimation, planning and control under new conditions and different ones from the past are not always effective leading to either conservative or inadequate solutions. Simulation is used as a decision support, planning, control, and process improvement tool. The simulation model developed is applied to the loading of the barge at the coating yard, the transportation of the material to the pipelaying site, and the pipelaying activity performed by the pipelaying vessel. The model captures the expertise of the offshore personnel and addresses effectively the limitations listed above. An object oriented environment is used to develop the simulation model that is proven to be very effective for the particular project for which it was developed and easily adjustable to any new pipelaying project