In 2012 SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, SINTEF Fisheries and Aquacultures, develogic and Statoil developed a semi-automatic real-time modelling software solution prototype for drilling discharges, including real-time measuring of currents, hydrodynamic and discharge modelling.
ELMO is the follow-up project, which will take the products and knowledge from the pilot stage to a next generation model application for simulating distribution of drilling discharges and their effects in "real-time". The application will be used for monitoring such operations in areas with sensitive habitats.
The project addresses the challenges from operational application of existing models for hydrodynamic, discharge and risk modelling in real-time:
- The operational phase of a drilling operation in close vicinity of sensitive species, like deep-water corals, has different requirements to resolution and accuracy of modelled results.
While one e.g. can find the optimal release location through modelling with statistical input data (currents) in the planning phase, statistics are less useful in the operational phase. Real-time monitoring combined with risk assessment can enable decision under operation with respect to changes of a planned operation (pauses, switching release locations etc.). - SINTEF's hydrodynamic sensor platform will deliver current measurements from the site in real-time (every 10 minutes).
- Measured data will be combined with modelled data by data assimilation.
- SINMOD will be used for hydrodynamic modelling. DREAM will be used to model dispersion and deposition of drilling discharges in real-time. Coral risk assessment (DNV GL) is used as a basis for decision making.
The application will be tested in a field trial. Funded under Demo2000 with Statoil as industry partner the team consists of SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture and DNV GL.
