3D Model Lifecycle Management Guide for Process Plants

An informative guide to scoping a 3D model for use in capital projects and asset digital twins and to the activities & investments necessary to build and maintain it throughout the facility lifecycle.

Background

The 3D Model Lifecycle Management Guide was developed on the back of the Facilities Lifecycle 3D Model Specification (FL3DMS), which is a practical, application-neutral specification for the structure and content of 3D Models, designed to guide the creation and maintenance of 3D models in capital projects and assets.  It is based on existing company standards and best practices of the FL3DMS participants and includes technical requirements for the creation and handover of 3D models to enable use-cases in projects and operations.  The first version of the 3D specification was issued in 2021.  

In parallel with the second revision of the FL3DMS standard, work started on educational guides for implementing the FL3DMS standard in a 3D Model and managing and maintaining 3D Models for the entire asset lifecycle. The team has also developed a business case for maintaining the 3D model during the lifecycle of a facility. The FL3DMS implementation guide for the FL3DMS standard is under development and will be released later in 2024. 

William Randell McNair is an active member of the FL3DMS team and has contributed actively to the development of the business case for standardizing and maintaining 3D models As Built for the full asset life. As part of his doctoral research at the University of South Florida, Randell has published three articles about Digital Twins that reference FL3DMS as a relevant industry standard development. In the third article, the FL3DMS business case development is also referenced.

The value and success of standards depends on how widely they are adopted and used. Adoption and use depends on applicability and ease of use of the standard for the use cases it is developed for. This requires that a standard is continuously improved and adapted to the requirements of the users, while at the same time meeting the expected quality standards.

Requirements of users of a standard change over time and so does the user community, which is growing for standards deemed valuable. This means that a process to manage the requests for changes to the deliverables from the users has to be in place.

For FL3DMS (Facilities Lifecycle 3D Model Specification) a Change Request Procedure has been developed. It is based on similar procedures from other standardization initiatives with transparency being an important element. The procedure manages the processes of registration of the Change Request (CR), administration of the change request, approval for working on the change request, delivery of the draft for the change and approval for acceptance of the change.

On 14-16 June 2022 USPI held the industry 3D model standard FL3DMS 2.0 (Facilities Lifecycle 3D Model Specification) framing workshop. Please find below an update of the outcomes and share content that may be of interest to you.

FL3DMS is a practical, application neutral, specification for the structure and content of 3D Models, designed to guide the creation and maintenance of 3D models in capital projects and assets.  It is based on existing company standards and best practices of the FL3DMS participants, and includes technical requirements for the creation and handover of 3D models to enable use-cases in projects and operations. These include 3D model design integration, Advance Work Packaging (AWP), Digital Twins and replication of 3D designs. 

   Anders Thostrup: Chairman USPI

While the impact of Covid-19 continues to reverberate, the journey towards digitalization of the process industries has gathered pace. I want to provide you with an update on recent developments.