Mark ten Dam – Imtech (September 2013 – July 2014)
Summary
Imtech observes an increasing business potential in supporting its customers during the complete life cycle of the delivered assets. However, this is possible when two requirements are met:
- The system and subsystems failure behavior is well understood, thus enabling the prediction of the future availability, reliability and maintenance costs;
- The added value of such an approach can be demonstrated and quantified to the asset owners, e.g. in terms of a reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) or improvement of the asset performance and efficiency.
Figure 1 HNLMS Johan de With and its propulsion system.
To meet these two requirements, methods and models must be developed that predict the failure behavior of typical (sub)systems for a given usage profile. Using these models, different maintenance strategies or scenarios can be compared in terms of performance, costs and benefits. Based on these results, Imtech will be able to propose the most optimal strategy to the asset owner. In addition to designing the initial maintenance strategy, the method will also enable the validation and, if required, modification of the maintenance strategy during the life cycle of the assets. The latter requires the derivation of a limited number of representative key performance indications (KPI).
Key results
- A method for maintenance policy selection has been developed (see Fig. 2)
- The method includes variable weight factors to adapt to different business fields (navy, yachts)
- The method has been applied to a case study: HNLMS Johan de Wit propulsion system (see Fig. 1)
- A finite element based predictive model for seal wear has been developed (see Fig. 3,4)
Figure 2 Model for maintenance policy selection.
Figure 3 Seal geometry and corresponding Finite Element model.
Figure 4 Predicted wear of seal.