as pure and easy-to-reach oil and gas reserves get increasingly depleted, energy businesses are looking towards fields that are deeper, hotter, higher-pressure and more contaminated in order to meet global demand.
valves play a central role in the extraction of oil and gas, controlling its flow and maintaining safety, and evolving valve designs to keep pace with industry requirements is a constant r&d challenge.
understanding the challenge
every new valve design begins with a challenge, and these are many and varied. it might be that a valve is required to operate under very high pressures and temperatures, or to withstand corrosive impurities in crude oil. alternatively, it could be that less resistance to flow is desirable for a particular valve type, or a new manifold configuration to meet a very specific practical requirement.
we work closely with our clients to identify, understand and predict challenges so we are sure our r&d investment is correctly aligned with their aims.
feasibility is an integral part of this. the industry is heavily constrained – for very good reasons – both by detailed regulations and cost considerations, and these will always be front-of-mind for valve engineers.
conceptualisation
with the challenge defined, the next step is to identify possible solutions as there is often more than one way to tackle any given challenge – and compare their pros and cons. these considerations must take all constraints into account, including manufacturing capabilities, performance and availability of materials, any functional compromises associated with the new design and, of course, cost.
the resulting approach will then pass into the design stage.
preliminary design
this critical stage is the bridge between the concept and the detailed design process, and is where solutions to many of the most fundamental challenges are identified. extensive use of advanced computer-aided design tools are used to carry out fluid dynamic modelling and finite element analysis to digitally simulate real-world performance.
real-world prototype testing will also sometimes be used to ensure the accuracy of simulated results.
the product of this exercise is a workable but unrefined design concept, ready for the next process.
detailed design
the aim of this step is to refine the design through repeated iterations and testing to arrive at a final result that meets or exceeds all of the required criteria. during this stage, a series of evolving digital prototypes are created and extensively tested in order to arrive at an optimum design.
