Tekla Structures for

Offshore Rigs

Tekla Solutions used:

Texas offshore oil rig
project: A complex task
with significant challenges
►► Tekla Structures

TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

 overview
Hitech iSolutions (Hitech) is an Integrated Engineering
Consulting and Solutions company focused on end to end
process management and optimization. For over 27 years,
Hitech has partnered with clients globally to support, digitalize LOCATION
and automate their engineering processes, thereby achieving Mexico

scalability, flexibility and operational efficiencies. With an

arsenal of over 1000 professionals Hitech has enabled more
than 5000 customers achieve targets satisfactorily across
the USA, Europe & Australia. The trust that customers repose
in Hitech has earned the company a well-deserved “highest
rating for Financial Strength and Operating Performance”
from Crisil for four consecutive years.

The Texas offshore oil rig was extracting 80,000 barrels

per day from deep waters of Gulf of Mexico. The massive
platform of the rig needed structural steel detailing for pipe
and tray support, access platform, stair and main tower,
and the sub-sea distribution unit. The general contracting
company working on this enormous project had partnered
with Hitech for developing steel detailing and fabrication
drawings besides implementing automation.

The structural engineering team at Hitech equipped with

rich expertise and diversified experience of over 12 years
embarked on developing steel detail drawings for the
offshore oil rig in Texas, USA having 10,000 ton topsides.
The project spanned over a year with a scope of developing
11,000+ pipes/tray supports, 20,000+ drawings and
machine files for steel fabrication.

The team was entrusted with enormous scope of work and

required to deliver high end drawings. As a result, the team
adopted Tekla Structures to address the delivery needs.
The primary need was to implement automation at various
stages using Tekla Open APIs and parametric custom
components.

TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

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+ Saving up to 40 per cent time and 15 per cent cost made
possible only with Tekla
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While recalling the project experience, Director of BIM Solutions,

Hitech iSolutions LLP, Bhushan Avsatthi, says, “Our engineering
teams laid the foundation of the entire project setup on Tekla
Structures and Tekla Open APIs to generate high-end deliverables
while saving up to 40 per cent time and cutting costs down by by
15%”

Managing heavy influx of design revisions

The major challenge for the project team was to manage heavy influx of design revisions. The team had to constantly update
Tekla Model Sharing using revision drawings to facilitate coordination between design, fabrication, and installation teams.
Compounding the existing constraints, the input files lacked technical details which required constant approvals and
coordination with client to assign appropriate structural coordinates in space with reference to the main platforms. Hitech
had its responsibilities cut out again with Tekla Model Sharing to aid.

Blocking (HSE) risks

An offshore oil platform of such mammoth magnitude
is always accompanied with higher Health Safety
and Environment risks. Explicit to that, joint detailing
welds, holes and the designs were critical and would
require abiding by the standards and a ‘first time
right’ approach. Hitech was aware that delays would
result in revisions that would further lead to cascading
issues. Corrections would involve additional time and
effort, resulting in heavy avoidable cost burdens/
implications.
“Using Tekla Structures and automation tools with Tekla
Open APIs, our engineering team helped the general
contracting company save 40% time and reduce costs
by 15%. We strategized the correct usage of Tekla Open
APIs, functions and parametric custom tools to eliminate
errors and allow our client to track changes, logistics
with barcodes. Since then, we have continuously uplifted
the quality of our deliverables and Tekla Structures have
become an inseparable part of our steel detailing teams.”
— Bhushan Avsatthi, Director of BIM Solutions,
Hitech iSolutions LLP

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Effective & efficient project completion with Tekla
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+ +
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The Project Team resorted to Tekla Phase Manager for smart implementation. The team initiated by assigning smart
numbers to all the elements using formula based excel files which ensured the elimination of manual data entry errors.
Automation specialists developed custom DOS scripts to separate the drawing PDFs according to client’s priorities. They
also assigned smart numbers to be able to import the details in Tekla Phase Manager and prepare 3D models. With smart
number generator in Excel, project engineers achieved greater accuracy over the traditional manual input and reduced the
time of implementation by 25 per cent.

Secondly, by using Tekla Phase Manager, engineers created phases using ‘Add Phase’ Command which played a major
role in automatic assignment of names and numbers. And during the later stages of implementation these Phases were
applied to each support. Simultaneously, by using U-Bolt Slot Tools of Tekla Phase Manager the team was able to embed the
information relating to slot cutting and dimension between the slots.

Avsatthi says, “Our biggest challenge was a very high number of pipe and tray support drawings and the time was too less.
Leveraging Tekla Open APIs was the turning point and a big relief to our engineers when we moved towards automation.”
++++
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Utilizing Tekla’s ‘Super Powers
+
+ +
++++

Leveraging Tekla Open (APIs) & Parametric Custom Components

Hitech’s engineers developed Auto UDAs for 3D models of pipe and tray support. The
holes for the supports using U-Bolt Slot Tools were created using Parametric Custom
Components of Tekla Structures.

Once the models were ready, the project team used Tekla’s Auto Create GA tool in Visual
Studio and embarked on automating the GA drawings with sheet setup, annotation,
welds and notes.
Another notable instance of the project was the client’s requirement of drawings of varying quality levels on site. Tekla Attribute
Setting came to the rescue of the team in creating part drawings corresponding to the quality needed which gained customer
satisfaction.

Tekla modelling and joint detailing for various parts of the platforms

The scope of work also included developing 3D models for 5 main towers of the rig, 17
different access platforms for easy traversing across the rig and chain guide to model the
design details and to facilitate easy communication across the teams. Tekla delivered
here, again rising to the need of the hour.

Additionally, steel and concrete joint detailing, assembly and part drawings, NC code
files and GA drawings were also prepared using Tekla modelling. Joint detailing for steel
structure fabrication and installation were also created and shared with the client to
their complete satisfaction.

Delivering phased update with Tekla India Support team

Hitech’s client, the general contracting company, needed phased update and
deliverables in the form of IFC part files and not the complete IFC model. This was a
very specific requirement on the part of the client. In absence of no direct command
it appeared only possible through manual means. Resorting to manual means implied
employing time in excess of allotted in an already crunched deadline. The project team
streamlined the impasse by exploring automation tools and customizing Tekla add-ons.

Experts at Tekla India Support generated customized tools and delivered shop floor needs of the client for final machining phase
of steel fabrication. Final drawing logs, cut-lists, and barcode details along with transmittal and submittals were generated
using Tekla Template Editor.

Bhushan explains, “Had the team done manual IFC export for each part drawings, the time consumed would have been 90 per
cent more. Our association with Tekla India Support Team was high-yielding in terms of time saving and accuracy.”

TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS

++++
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+Tekla Structures:
An inseparable part of Hitech’s steel detailing team
+
+
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Being the primary structural steel detailing partners, Team Tekla focussed on the criticality of correct steel
detailing and developed the drawings with accuracy at the first go. Tekla’s team of 24 engineers collaborated
with Hitech to develop steel fabrication drawings with an accuracy of 1/64th of an inch and clash checks for
steel-concrete as well as steel-steel joints to eliminate pain points. Team Tekla provided Hitech with a complete
5GB Tekla model, technical drawings and documentation, and CNC machine files which were shared with the
client for steel fabrication, erection and installation.

In the Texas offshore oil rig project, Hitech surpassed its past milestones by continuously delivering satisfactory
services to clients and garnered reliability. The achievement was made possible due to its association with
Tekla Structures. Beyond the achievements apparent on the surface, the number of instances in which Tekla
Structures stood by and supported Hitech were immense. This promises an enduring and lasting association
between Tekla and Hitech.

Team Tekla in Hitech iSolutions

Together we are shaping a
smarter future for construction

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TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS