From Design to Depth:
SimScale Enabling Subsea Drilling

About Scanmudring AS

The offshore construction industry faces challenges when developing specialized equipment for underwater excavation, particularly when working with hard-to-excavate materials like clay. Scanmudring AS, a Norwegian company specializing in subsea and offshore excavation solutions, is a prime example of a firm continuously innovating using simulation early and broadly.

Scanmudring AS is an integrated engineering services company specializing in onshore and offshore equipment and services. It takes a serious approach to sustainability and green solutions, supporting the Paris Agreement for climate change. It is committed to being a Net Zero company before 2030. The company has focused on the renewable and sustainable engineering industry for the past decade; it is the only company offering services that can be a net zero operation today. In their pursuit of ever-increasing efficiency and cost savings, the engineering team has been using SimScale to optimize the design and operation of its machines.

40-Ton Subsea Excavators

The engineering team at Scanmudring AS used SimScale, a cloud-based engineering simulation software, to design and optimize a 40-ton excavator’s suction nozzle for offshore applications, including offshore wind turbine infrastructure. By leveraging SimScale’s capabilities, Scanmudring was able to streamline the design and fabrication process, reducing time to market while improving equipment performance.

Scanmudring’s excavators operate in environments that vary in material composition, from soft sand and rocks to hard clay. Traditionally, their excavators struggled to maintain efficient performance when operating in clay, as the material’s hardness significantly impeded cutting and removal operations. The company needed a more powerful and efficient solution for removing water-filled excavated material (e.g., clay, sand, and rocks) from the seafloor.

The existing designs for previously used suction nozzles needed optimization to handle harder materials more effectively. The primary objective was to develop a more robust suction nozzle for the 40-ton excavator that could work efficiently in hard clay environments while attaching easily to the cutter head. The design needed to ensure that the cutter head could loosen the material and the new S7 suction nozzle could quickly dredge it away.

Simulating a Subsea Suction Nozzle

The suction nozzle (S70) has to handle different types of material and seawater. Its proprietary design leads to complex fluid flow that needs accurate analysis with CFD, specifically for the nozzle, to create optimal water flow that can help extract the excavated material efficiently. Achieving a balanced and stable flow pattern, even in high-pressure underwater environments, is crucial for preventing blockages and equipment malfunctions.

Using SimScale, Kenneth Henrikson and the team at Scanmudring could simulate the water flow within the suction nozzle and cutter head assembly, gaining insights into the flow patterns, pressure head, turbulence, and any backflow that might lead to performance bottlenecks.

Structural Optimization: The team also used SimScale’s simulation tools to optimize the steel structure of the nozzle. Given the high forces exerted on the equipment during offshore operations, it was crucial to design the nozzle to withstand these forces while minimizing weight to improve overall system durability.

Benefits of Using SimScale Early & Often

• Enhanced Performance in Clay: The newly designed nozzle allowed the excavator to cut and extract clay more efficiently than previous designs, reducing the need for additional dredging passe and improving productivity.
• Reduced Downtime: With a more efficient suction system, there were fewer blockages.
• Faster Project Delivery: The ability to rapidly design, simulate, and fabricate the equipment in just 4-5 weeks meant that Scanmudring could meet the project’s deadlines, delivering high-performance machinery that would have otherwise taken months to develop.