Create a Pipe Network with Didger & Voxler

Transcription

1 Create a Pipe Network with Didger & Voxler Over the past few years, Golden Software s technical support team has been contacted a few times with user questions about using Voxler s WellRender module to render cylindrical features other than actual boreholes and wells. Users have requested instructions on how to set-up data to use with the WellRender to render storage tank complexes, pipelines, and other various plumbing networks. Because the WellRender was not designed for this purpose, we really don t have official instructions on how to create such a model. The following approach should satisfy these requests and our user s curiosity when it comes to using the WellRender module to render these features. This article will focus on converting a DXF to point data using Didger 5, editing the data so it coincides with Voxler s import requirements, and generating a pipe network in Voxler using the WellRender module. Figure 1: A pipe network and storage tank complex modeled in Voxler 3 using the WellRender module.

2 The first step in generating a pipe network is to convert an existing 2D map of the pipe network into point data using Didger 5. The pipe network used in the article is mapped on a DXF file as polylines. Figure 2: The pipe network mapped to a DXF file shown in Didger 5. To convert the DXF to a point file: 1. Open Didger Import the DXF map of the piping network using the File Import command. 3. In the Import dialog, navigate to the DXF and click Open. 4. In the DXF Import Options dialog, click OK to accept the default settings. 5. In the Assign Coordinate System dialog, keep it set to Cartesian Coordinates and click OK. 6. Now that the map has been imported into Didger, ID s can be added to each polyline by editing the PID directly in the Data Manager. Because Voxler s WellRender needs a unique ID for each well trace, add a unique ID to each polyline in Didger s Data Manager. For the IDs, use Pipe 1, Pipe 2, Pipe 3, etc., as shown below. 7. The piping network can be exported to a data file by using the File Export command. 8. In the Export dialog:

3 a. Change the save location. b. Enter the File name. c. Change the Save as type to DAT. d. Click Save to export the data. 9. In the Data Export Options dialog, choose Comma as the Delimiter and click OK. Now that the piping network DXF has been converted to a DAT file, it can be opened and edited in any worksheet program, like Surfer or Excel, to add the necessary columns for import into Voxler. Voxler requires well data, which is essentially what is being created for the pipe network, to have the following columns: Well ID, X, Y, Z, and Measured Depth (MD). These columns need to be added to the DAT created in the steps above. For the Z and MD columns, 0 can be used if the actual depths are not known. If the actual depth is known for the pipe network or if it s going to be used with other data and the depth in the model is known, the actual values can be used for these columns. This example uses 0 for Z and MD. The set-up for the DAT looks like this: Figure 3: The required worksheet columns for import in Voxler 3. Now that the DXF has been converted to a point dataset and the dataset has been edited to contain the necessary columns for import into Voxler, it can be imported in Voxler using the following steps: 1. Open Voxler and click File Import. 2. In the Import dialog, navigate to the DAT file created and edited in the steps above and click Open. 3. In the Select Data Columns dialog: a. Choose Import as Wells under Options. b. Check Use header row. c. Change the Mark fields for dropdown menu to XYZ Path. The dialog setup should look like this:

4 Figure 4: The setup for the Select Data Columns dialog when importing the edited data info Voxler. d. Click OK to import the pipe network data. To render the pipe network in Voxler, select the WellData module in the Network Manager, right-click and choose Graphics Output WellRender. The network is now displayed in the plot window, see the image below. The properties for the WellRender can be modified by selecting the WellRender in the Network Manager, moving to the Property Manager and selecting the Path tab. From the Path tab, both the Size and Color can be adjusted to fit the model s needs.

5 Figure 5: The pipe network rendered in Voxler. Additional WellRender modules can be used to model storage and holding tanks using a similar process as described above. The only caveat is that the data for the tanks needs to have the same X and Y coordinates and the Z and MD columns need to have a starting depth/elevation and an ending depth/elevation. As you can see in the image below, the additional tanks make a great addition to a contamination dispersion model.

6 Figure 6: A final image of the pipe network that includes an additional storage tank complex that was also generated using Voxler s WellRender module.