subsea chisel systemSUBSEA CHISEL SYSTEM WORKWJUNE 2012
  • Designed and engineered all aspects of project

  • Ensured feasibility and that the project fit exactly where needed

  • Supervised all construction and logistics to ensure project was completed on within the 9 day time window

  • Was ultimately responsible for entire project

bar

A 3D drawing of the chisel, in-situ.

While deployed with Titan Salvage working on the Costa Concordia in Italy, a system to deploy a very large chisel (more like a pile driver) was needed extremely quickly. The chisel itself (60 feet long and weighing approximately 13 tons) was being trucked from UK while I was tasked with designing a mounting system for it that could be built and operational within 9 days. The chisel was to be used to level parts of the sea floor for large anchor blocks to be able to lie flat. Before the chisel left the UK warehouse it was measured and I had the measurements e-mailed to me. I then measured the work barge with nothing more complicated than a tape measure and hammer. I then spoke with the foreman to make sure I was clear on his requirements for chisel operations.

The installed chisel mount, seen at center, with chisel in place. The chisel is lifted and then dropped by the crane

A side view drawing, from the construction set, showing dimensional data and markups (in red)

While the chisel was being shipped and after I had measured the work barge, I put together an early draft of the digital design in Rhinoceros 3D.
This process took the better part of a day.
With steel deliveries taking at least 2 days to the island, I had to place my steel order before the final design was complete and estimate my totals and account for any design changes that might take place.
After the steel was ordered, I continued to detail the design and line up such things as holes, bolts, stiffeners etc... (Number of items etc in an application)
Drawings for assembly of the project would need to be clear and easy to read, while still being easy to update. This is not exactly Rhino’s specialty.
Instead I brought the model (via DWG) into Autodesk Revit for design drawings. This worked extremely well and allowed the two programs to interchange data and keep all models linked together.

The half built mount, installed on the side of the barge. The chisel can be seen installed in center

A top view of the main pressure plate showing holes and dimensions

A few changes had to be made to the model after it was substantially complete and detailed in Revit. The DWG workflow allowed this to happen (feature links could be updated in place with no loss of dimensioning information).
Fabrication commenced based on the drawings produced by the end of day 2.
The ability to create clear, quick and updatable drawings based on an existing 3D model (even when made in another program) allowed this project to be completed with great speed and accuracy.
The project was completed on schedule and worked exactly as required.

 

footer ending