Today, offline monitoring of dredging equipment is simpler than ever. By capturing digital data from dredging equipment and visualising it with in2Dredging's Equipment Performance Review (EPR) software, project stakeholders can use the new Proximity Tool to gain clear insights. Regular monitoring of proximity is essential for ensuring accurate, efficient and continuously improving operations.
Monitoring Proximity
Monitoring the proximity of a piece of equipment relative to a surface is often critical to a project and accomplishing this can sound abstract and even alarming. Nonetheless, project teams may come across this challenge during subsea operations.
By knowing the distance between a piece of equipment and a surface, the following can for example be determined:
- Overdepth dredging – dredging that occurs below design
- Bench height or cut depth – the depth of excavation below the soil surface
- Standoff distance – distance of a tool from a triangulated surface or subsea infrastructure.
- Under keel clearance – the distance between a ship’s hull and the seabed
For this reason, in2Dredging (i2D) developed the Proximity Tool within EPR. This tool quickly calculates the distance between a point and a surface by using a very fast and advanced triangulation routine. In addition, the tool’s speed helps process long timeseries with a large surface in a fraction of a second, as shown in the figure below.
Figure 1: Timeseries of a cutter suction dredge and a triangulated surface
The Proximity Tool’s Features
EPR’s new Proximity Tool provides many new monitoring capabilities as well as allowing more advanced analyses, such as:
- Identifying, locating and minimising over-dredging
- Safeguarding the standoff distance from subsea infrastructure
- Calculating and increasing the excavation depth of a drag head
- Estimating spill rates accurately, by comparing dredge depth versus seabed level
- Calculating and reducing excavation equipment’s specific energy used, which is made possible thanks to the Proximity Tool’s ability to provide bench height or cut depth
- Ensuring sufficient under keel clearance is maintained at all times
Moreover, the Proximity Tool makes it possible to gain full insight into site operations and allows their continuous improvement with the power of hindsight. Both contractors and owners benefit from having available undisputable evidence.
The new tool makes it possible to further improve:
- Accuracy, efficiency and productivity
- Recording, visualisation and the drawing of conclusions from historical events
- Analysis and development of predictive modelling
- Permit and social compliancy
The opportunities for continuous improvement with the new Proximity Tool are endless. Also, an Equipment Performance Review (EPR) instance can be set up within days to help you gain the necessary insight required to continuously improve your site operations.