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Asset management of oil and gas pipeline system Based on Digital Twin
IFAC PapersOnLine 53-5 (2020) 715–719
Xue
Asset management of oil and gas Xiangdongsystem
pipeline * Based on Digital Twin
Asset management of oil and gas Li Bo**
pipeline system Based
Asset management of oil and gas pipeline
Gai
Xue
system
Jiannan***
Xiangdong *
Based on
on Digital
Digital Twin
Twin
Xue Xiangdong *
Li Bo**
Xue Xiangdong
Li Bo** *
*Pipechina Pipeline R&D Center, Xue Xiangdong *
Gai China,
Gai Bo**(e-mail: xdxue@petrochina.com.cn)
Jiannan***
Li
Jiannan***
Li Bo**(e-mail: libo19@petrochina.com.cn)
**Pipechina Pipeline R&D Center, Gai China,

Jiannan***
*** Pipechina Pipeline R&D Gai
Center, Jiannan***
China, (e-mail: gaijn@petrochina.com.cn)
*Pipechina Pipeline
*Pipechina Pipeline R&D R&D Center,
Center, China,
China,
 (e-mail:
(e-mail: xdxue@petrochina.com.cn)
xdxue@petrochina.com.cn)
**Pipechina
*Pipechina Pipeline
**Pipechina Pipeline R&D
Pipeline R&D Center,
R&D Center, China,
Center, China, (e-mail:
China, (e-mail: xdxue@petrochina.com.cn)
(e-mail: libo19@petrochina.com.cn)
libo19@petrochina.com.cn)
*Pipechina
*** Pipechina Pipeline
Pipeline R&DR&D Center,
Center, China,
China, (e-mail:
(e-mail: xdxue@petrochina.com.cn)
gaijn@petrochina.com.cn)
**Pipechina
*** Pipechina Pipeline
Pipeline R&DR&D Center,
Center, China,
China, (e-mail:
(e-mail: libo19@petrochina.com.cn)
gaijn@petrochina.com.cn)
**Pipechina Pipeline R&D Center, China, (e-mail: libo19@petrochina.com.cn)
*** Pipechina Pipeline R&D Center, China, (e-mail: gaijn@petrochina.com.cn)
*** Pipechina Pipeline R&D Center, China, (e-mail: gaijn@petrochina.com.cn)
Abstract: With the rapid development of IT technologies, digital transformation is reshaping the world
in multiple scales. Digital Twin, as an important enabling technology and driving force of digital
transformation, has been widely used inofvarious fields, which has transformation
played a good exemplary role in the
Abstract: With
Abstract: With thethe rapid
rapid development
development of IT IT technologies,
technologies, digital
digital transformation is is reshaping
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world
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Abstract:
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in
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role world
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widely used twin
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application
background,prospect
application definition
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twin management.
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the oil and gas pipeline
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paper
role in out
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analyzes the
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of the digital andtwin
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prospectinof
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isanalyzes
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access article asset
under management.
the CC BY-NC-ND In the end,
license it is pointed out
Copyright
before
that the
Keywords:
before it
it can
can©Digital
2020
be
construction
be The
applied Authors.
of
Twin,and
applied and
digital
AssetThis
popularized
twin cannot
Management,
popularized in
be
in the
the industry.
accomplished
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industry. Finally,
overnight. it
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that the construction
(http://creativecommons.org/
environmental protection of digital
operationtwinofcannot
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
oil and begasaccomplished
pipeline overnight. There is still a long way to go
network.
before
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Finally, it can help the safe, efficient and
environmental
Keywords: protection
Digital Twin, operation
Asset of oil and gas pipeline
Management, Intelligentnetwork.
Pipeline,
Keywords: Digital
environmental Twin,operation
protection Asset Management,
of oil and gas pipelineIntelligent Pipeline, Oil
network. Oil and and Gas Gas Pipeline
Pipeline System, System,
Equipment
Keywords:
Equipment Digital Twin, Asset Management, Intelligent
and hasPipeline,
been Oil
expanding and Gas
to Pipeline
more fields. System,
The successful
Digital Twin, Asset Management, Intelligent Pipeline, Oil and Gas Pipeline System,
Keywords:1. INTRODUCTION
Equipment application of other fields has played a good role in
Equipment 
With the rapid development of cloud computing, big data, demonstrating
and the application of digital twinThe in oil and gas
1.and
INTRODUCTION and has been expanding to more fields. The successful
has been expanding to more fields. successful
artificial intelligence1. other IT technologies and the rapid
INTRODUCTION pipeline
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industry.
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smart
such as smart smart buildings,
manufacturing, and
smart treatment,
cities, smart agriculture, and
smart energy, smart buildings, and smart medical treatment, far-reaching significance for the oil and gas pipeline industry.
2405-8963 Copyright
smart energy, smart © 2020 The Authors.
buildings, and smartThis ismedical access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
an open treatment, far-reaching significance for the oil and gas pipeline industry.
Peer review under responsibility of International Federation of Automatic Control.
10.1016/j.ifacol.2021.04.163
716 Xue Xiangdong et al. / IFAC PapersOnLine 53-5 (2020) 715–719
2.2 Brief introduction of digital twin of oil and gas pipeline
system
The digital twin of oil and gas pipeline system is a process
and method to describe and model the characteristics,
behavior and performance etc. of physical objects and
surrounding environment of the pipeline by using digital
technology. The digital twin of pipeline is a digital model
constructed in virtual space, which is precisely mapped,
consistent in behavior, growing together and iteratively
optimized with the actual pipeline system. Compared with the
digital twin of products, the digital twin of oil and gas
pipeline system cover a wider range of fields, more complex
models, more diverse application scenarios, and larger data
dimensions and scales. It is necessary to fully perceive
various parameters of pipelines, fluids, stations and the
environment through the pipeline Internet of things and
external databases, so as to realize the process simulation of
multi physical quantities, multi-scale and multi business
scenarios, and realize the accurate mapping of the operation
status of the entity pipeline. On this basis, it supports the risk
identification, fault diagnosis, transportation optimization and
other functions of each link in the production process, and
has the function of backtracking and prediction, so it is very
difficult to directly build the digital twin of oil and gas
pipeline system. In order to ensure that the digital twin of oil
and gas pipeline system can be successfully constructed and
invoked more conveniently in different applications, the
digital twin of oil and gas pipeline system are divided into
line parts, fluid parts, station parts and environmental parts
according to the natural boundary of the pipeline system in
the real world. Each application scenario calls the required
data and models from four parts according to different
business requirements, and realizes the fusion interaction in
the business scenario module. Finally, the results are fed back
to four parts, so that all applications can avoid calling the
whole twin to solve the model, which can greatly improve the
efficiency of calculation and analysis.
Fig. 1. Cloud platform architecture of asset management
based on digital twin.
The digital twin of oil and gas pipeline system can support
the ability formation of all-round perception, comprehensive
prediction, integrated management and control, and adaptive
optimization of intelligent pipeline network, support the
realization of the goal of "full digital handover, full
intelligent operation, full business coverage, and full life-
cycle management". The realization of the goal has a
fundamental supporting role for the construction of oil and
gas pipeline network with thinking ability and creativity, and
for the evolution of digital pipeline network to intelligent
pipeline network.
The pipeline industry is a heavy asset process industry. The
failure of physical assets will cause efficiency reduction,
pipeline shutdown and even casualties and other accidents,
which will bring huge economic losses to the enterprise, but
also seriously affect the normal production of upstream oil
and gas fields and the production and living demand of
downstream users. Therefore, asset management is
particularly important for the pipeline industry. The
following is an introduction to the improvement of two types
of asset management that can be the core of pipeline
enterprises by using digital twin technology.
3. PIPELINE ASSET MANAGEMENT BASED ON
DIGITAL TWIN
Due to the characteristics of large span of resources and
market, the distribution of oil and gas pipelines in China is
highly scattered, the terrain and environment are complex,
there are many ecological sensitive points, and the social
environment is complex, which brings great challenges to
pipeline managers. At present, integrity management is
mainly used in the asset management of oil and gas pipeline
in China. In 2001, API 1160 "Managing System Integrity for
Hazardous Liquid Pipeline" and ASME B31.8S "Managing
System Integrity of Gas Pipelines" were issued by American
Petroleum Institute and American Society of mechanical
engineers. The process of API 1160 and ASME B31.8S for
the integrity management of hazardous liquid pipelines and
gas pipelines are shown in Figures 2 and 3 respectively.
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Identify potential Initial data gathering, China's pipeline management level. Pipeline integrity
pipeline impact to review, and
HCAs integration
management is divided into the integrity management of
pipeline in the construction period and the integrity
management of pipeline in service. The integrity
Initial risk
assessment
management technology of the pipeline in service mainly
revolves around six steps circulation to achieve the purpose
of continuous improvement. Compared with the integrity
Develop baseline
Manage change
management technology of the pipeline in service, the
plan
integrity management technology of the pipeline in the
construction period is relatively simple, only the first three
Perform inspection steps are carried out.
and/or mitigation

Revise inspection Update, integrate,

Evaluate program
and mitigation plan and review data

Reassess risk

Fig. 2. API 1160 dangerous liquid pipeline integrity

management plan process flow

Identifying potential Gathering,

pipeline impact by reviewing, and
threat integrating data

Fig. 4. 6-step cycle flow chart of pipeline integrity

Risk assessment
No All threats
evaluated
Yes
Integrity assessment
Responses to
integrity assessment
and mitigation
Fig. 3. ASME B31.8S gas transmission pipeline system
integrity management plan process flow
Since then, PetroChina began to research and introduce
pipeline integrity management methods. In 2009, PetroChina
issued the first domestic pipeline integrity management
enterprise standard Q/SY 1180 "Pipeline Integrity
Management Specification". In 2015, on this basis,
PetroChina took the lead in preparing the first national
pipeline integrity management standard GB 32167 "Oil and
Gas Pipeline Integrity Management Specification", which
laid a solid foundation for standardizing and improving
management
At present, the comprehensive application of pipeline
integrity management method has basically completed the
construction of pipeline integrity management system
documents, completed the development of pipeline integrity
management information system, and formed the integrity
management as the core management system, so that all
kinds of pipeline risks can be continuously identified,
evaluated and controlled, and the frequency of pipeline
leakage failures is steadily decreasing, but there are still some
problems. First, there are many self-built systems with
overlapping functions, and the data standards have not yet
been unified, so it is difficult to realize the data interaction
between different systems. Second, the full life cycle
management of assets has not been fully realized, and the full
utilization of achievements in different stages in the
subsequent stage needs to be strengthened. The third is the
lack and error of data in the construction period, the long
time interval of data collection in the operation period, and
the lack of timely and accurate means for obtaining external
environmental information. Fourth, the ability of data
analysis and mining is insufficient and the degree of attention
is insufficient. Existing businesses focus on their own
software development and data platform maintenance. Most
of the evaluation methods are empirical methods and semi
quantitative evaluation methods, lack of comprehensive
evaluation of pipeline status.
Digital twin based pipeline asset management can solve the
above problems. First of all, the digital twin defines the
unified pipeline standard data model, constructs the unified
data center system platform, carries the construction and
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application of data models and simulation models, promotes
the integration of self-built systems and unified platforms,
meets the personalized needs of Companies in different
regions, breaks through the information barriers of existing
systems, and avoids information security problems in the
transmission process of different systems. Secondly, the
digital twin opens the data path of design period, construction
period and operation period, exports the elements in the
design drawings separately and associates them with the
structured design results in the system to realize the digital
transfer of the unstructured results in the design stage; breaks
through the barriers of the design software and the simulation
software in the operation period. The three-dimensional
model formed in the design period realizes digital transfer,
can superimpose construction and operation data, and can be
adjusted according to the transformation requirements in the
operation period, so as to realize the transfer and sharing of
business models and data in each period. It is a digital archive
of the full life cycle of the pipeline. Third, the digital twin
realizes the automatic collection, real-time remote
transmission and centralized storage display of data in the
construction process by means of Internet of things and other
technical means, which improves the accuracy and
completeness of data collection in the construction period.
During the operation period, the digital twin simulation
engine is used to predict and display the development process
of different defects in the pipeline, which fills the empty
window of internal detection data caused by capital problems.
Fully integrating the multi-dimensional sensing information
of space, sky and ground, it can timely grasp the change trend
of the surrounding environment of the pipeline, realize the
intelligent identification and early warning of security risks,
and improve the management and control ability of ontology
safety. Fourth, the digital twin makes use of the existing
management and technical achievements, uses the artificial
intelligence technology to deeply mine the big data value of
the oil and gas pipeline network, discovers the potential
relationship between the existing management technology
knowledge, forms a dynamic knowledge map, constructs a
comprehensive quantitative evaluation method, and provides
support for the decision-making at all levels of the pipeline
asset management.
4. EQUIPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT BASED ON
DIGITAL TWIN
The equipment of pipeline system includes mechanical
equipment, electrical equipment, instrument equipment,
metering equipment, etc. with a wide variety, a huge number,
and a complex structure. The health of the equipment directly
affects the transmission capacity of the pipeline. At present,
the integrity management of the station has built a system
framework. However, the periodic maintenance measures are
still mainly used for equipment failures. Although they can
play a certain role in preventing equipment failures and
accidents, the maintenance cycle is too planned. On the one
hand, it will lead to over-maintenance, resulting in blind
maintenance phenomenon of "small illness big cure" and "
treatment without disease". On the other hand, because of the
inability to grasp the real-time status of the equipment
operation, there is no guarantee that the equipment will be
repaired as soon as it fails. There are also some equipment in
normal operation on the surface, and the actual operation
condition is in a bad state, which belongs to "sub-health".
Long-term operation of the equipment in the "sub-health"
state will accelerate the aging and wear of the equipment,
which will lead to the decline of efficiency, and eventually
lead to the loss of equipment life, or even the damage of
equipment failure, leading to serious consequences. In
addition, the cycle of periodic maintenance is usually based
on people's experience and some statistical data. The
deviation of different equipment will also reduce the
scientificity of periodic maintenance.
The equipment asset management based on digital twin can
change the equipment management mode. The traditional
over limit alarm is based on the trip protection logic of DCS
system. It's too late to trigger until the limit is exceeded. The
digital twin can predict the trend of equipment characteristic
parameters in advance and avoid unplanned outage.
Equipment asset management based on digital twin is to
build a physical equipment in a digital way, simulate the
behavior of the object in the real environment, perform
virtual simulation of the entire process of the equipment from
design selection, procurement, installation and debugging to
operation, and then combine a series of technologies such as
Internet of things, mechanism modeling, AI modeling, as
well as equipment detection system, failure database,
SCADA system and other data. From the five dimensions of
communication data quality, energy efficiency level,
operation condition, health status and operation and
maintenance quality, the equipment status is comprehensively
evaluated, so that the manager can perceive the real-time
status of the equipment, master the operation principle of the
equipment, understand the operation personality of the
equipment, and finally realize the diagnosis of the past
problems of the equipment, the assessment of the current
status and the prediction of the future trend. The equipment
maintenance based on digital twin is a preventive
maintenance strategy, which can ensure the timely and
accurate management of potential risks, prevent accidents in
advance, establish the relationship between equipment and
spare parts, optimize spare parts reserves, and greatly reduce
capital occupation.
Equipment asset management based on digital twin finally
realizes intelligent diagnosis, preventive maintenance and full
life cycle management of equipment. However, not all
equipment in the oil and gas pipeline industry need to be built
twin for management. The construction objects should be key
equipment such as compressor units, pump units, valves,
heaters, flowmeters, etc. The necessity and economy of
building digital twin for common equipment are insufficient.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Digital twin is of great significance to the improvement of
asset management in the oil and gas management industry,
which can promote the transformation of the management
mode of oil and gas pipelines from refinement to precision
and intelligence. The construction of digital twin needs not
only deep technology precipitation, but also huge capital
investment. Digital twin is the inevitable product of the
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coordinated development of various technologies to a certain

extent, and any short board of technology will become the
bottleneck restricting the development of digital twin. At
present, the construction and application of digital twin in oil
and gas pipeline industry is just in its infancy, and there are
many short boards in data collection, model accumulation,
software development and other aspects. Therefore, the
construction of digital twin cannot be accomplished overnight,
and it still has a long way to go before it is truly applied and
promoted in the industry.

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