Case Studies

2015 - William Allred, mechanical engineering associate at Reynolds, Smith & Hills, Inc. (RS&H), used AFT Impulse to design a complicated four level water deluge system to meet flow and timing requirements set in a fictitious situation. Allred submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest in 2015 and received an honorable mention for the Software Features and Model Creativity category.

2015 - Rory Heim, mechanical engineer at Swanson Rink, used AFT Fathom to model an air conditioning system for the conversion of a high rise office building into a multiuser, data center space. Heim submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received an honorable mention in the Software Features and Model Creativity category.

2015 - Charles Williamson, P.E., senior engineering analyst at CB&I, used AFT Fathom and the XTS Module to determine an over pressurization problem in a fire pump system. AFT Fathom was able to reconstruct missing test data, allowing Williamson to simulate and analyze the system. Williamson submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received the 2015 award for the Correlation to Test/Field Data category.

2015 - Nelius Joubert, senior operations specialist at Sasol, used AFT Fathom to model a complicated hydrocarbon separation plant in South Africa. The 355-pipe model helped identify various plant problems and was used to propose modifications that would enhance the plant’s performance. Joubert submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received the 2015 award for the Software Features and Model Creativity category.

2015 - Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) significantly reduced energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions at their top-ranked plant in the U.S. with the help of AFT Fathom. Bryan Whitfield, senior energy specialist at FCA’s Manufacturing Engineering division, used AFT Fathom to lead the Dundee Engine Plant’s energy savings project. Whitfield submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received the 2015 award for the Operational Benefits and Sustainability category.

2014 - Dalton Sivils, mechanical engineer at Kiewit Power Engineers, moved the AFT Fathom model to AFT Impulse for transient analysis in order to evaluate different pump trip scenarios. AFT Impulse allowed him the ability to create a graph along a flow path, showing the location of each piece of equipment and where the largest pressure spikes were located. Sivils submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received an honorable mention in the Software Features and Model Creativity category.

2014 - Steven Schade, senior process engineer at URS Corporation, used AFT Impulse to perform a study using several different mitigation scenarios to ensure the safety of an existing pipeline. Schade submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest in 2014 and received an honorable mention for the Operational Benefits and Sustainability category.

2014 - Rory Heim, mechanical engineer at Swanson Rink, used AFT Fathom to develop a chilled water distribution system in an undisclosed data center, along with a method of providing cooling for a period of time (ride-through) if the central chilled water plant were to go off line. Heim submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received the 2014 award for the Operational Benefits and Sustainability category.

2014 - Justin Clappison, piping specialist at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, used AFT Fathom to design improvements and additions to the existing coke oven gas cleaning system at the #2 By-Products plant in Hamilton, Ontario. Clappison submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest and received the 2014 award for the Operational Benefits and Sustainability category.

2014 - Andy Fazel, lead mechanical engineer at Kiewit Power Engineers, used AFT Fathom to revise and redesign four separate cooling water systems into one common system for the auxiliary plant heat exchangers in the Brayton Point Generating Station. Fazel submitted his project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest and received the 2014 award for the Use of Software Features and Creativity category.

2014 - Jeremiah Osborn, maintenance engineer at TruStile Doors, used AFT Arrow to model three systems used for dust collection. Essential for avoiding explosions and preventing long term eye and respiratory disease, Osborn used AFT Arrow to accurately balance the airflow in the dust collection systems. He submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received the 2014 award for the Correlation to Test/Field Data category.

2013 - Stephen Williams, consulting engineer at Ameren Missouri, used AFT Fathom to model a circulating water system at the Sioux Power Plant, a supercritical coal-fired power plant located near St. Louis. AFT Fathom allowed the engineer to model multiple valve selections and configurations to determine what control scheme would provide best temperature control over the range of flows and resultant pressure drops.

2013 - William Allred, EI, and Joseph Deitz, PE, were asked to modify a real Space Launch Complex Launch Water System to accommodate a large launch vehicle that has two addition liquid cores. They used AFT Impulse to model both the existing and modified systems. Allred and Deitz submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest and received the 2013 award for the Operational Benefits and Sustainability category.

2013 - Michael Martino, project engineer at Schuyler Engineering, used AFT Arrow to confirm a previous study recommending that existing medium-pressure steam supply could be converted to a low-pressure system for space heating, domestic hot water, kitchen steam kettles, humidification and sanitizing for the Rockland Psychiatric Center. He submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) contest and received the 2013 award for the Correlation to Test/Field Data category.

2013 - Beta Machinery Analysis was asked to investigate a waterhammer and valve slamming problem after pump shutdown in a Canadian crude oil booster pump station that sends product from tanks to a transportation pipeline. Jordan Grose, pump systems manager, modeled the system with AFT Impulse and gathered field measurements for model calibration. He submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award Contest and received the 2013 award for the Software Features and Model Creativity category.

2012 - Geoffrey Stone, principal at Blenray Pty Ltd, used AFT Fathom to model a proposed modification to a mine dewatering system in Indonesia. The model allowed the implementation of a cost-effective solution using materials and equipment that the operators were familiar with. Stone submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest and received the 2012 award for the Software Features and Model Creativity category.

2012 - Jeff Shelton, performance engineer at Ameren Missouri, used AFT Fathom to model the gravity drain systems from the lowest pressure heaters at two coal-fired power plants, Rush Island and Labadie. AFT Fathom allowed Shelton to identify a previously unknown design flaw with the original drain line configuration.

2012 - Energoprojekt Katowice was responsible for basic engineering in a project of modernizing a district heating system in Poland. Adam Klepacki, engineer at Energoprojekt, used AFT Fathom to model the heating water system for many heat loading and unloading cases in the wintertime and summertime. Klepacki submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest and received the 2012 award for the Use of Software Features category.

2011 - Duke Energy used AFT Fathom to model the pump suction piping in a Nuclear Service water system and analyze its corrosion. Duke Energy was able to benchmark corroded pipe performance, and accurately model the potential pressure recovery after cleaning the pipes.

2011 - Hatch Mott MacDonald used AFT Fathom to model a Dry Fire Line piping system for the design of a subway expansions and a new Light Rail Transit system. AFT Fathom allowed the company to study the pressure drop in the system by regulating the input pressure at grade and output pressure at the farthest set of fire valves in the tunnels.

2008 - Arturo Saenz, mechanical design engineer at Southern Peru Copper’s Central Project Office, used AFT Fathom to evaluate alternate system configurations and improve pumping efficiency at the Toquepala copper mine in Peru. Saenz submitted the project to AFT’s Platinum Pipe Award (PPA) Contest and received the 2008 award for the Correlation to Test/Field Data category.

2008 - Energoprojekt Katowice was charged with designing the expansion of the flue gas desulfurization systems at a coal-fired power plant in Poland. Adam Klepacki, engineer at Energoprojekt, used an AFT Arrow fluid database to model the unique properties of the flue gas and the Arrow GSC Module to simulate the induced draft fan speed control to maintain a controlled furnace exit pressure.

2005 - Chicago Bridge & Iron’s Process Engineering Division was tasked with developing the design for a gasification system serving an LNG off-loading terminal. Doug DeGraaf, senior engineer, used AFT Impulse to create a true model of the system and determine discrepancies in predicted and measured parameters.

2005 - Sreenivas Garikipati, principal engineer at CH2M Hill’s New Delhi office, used AFT Fathom to model a water reclamation system for Singapore’s Public Utilities Board.

2004 - NRG Thermal Corporation used AFT Fathom to model their District Cooling System serving downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the years of using the AFT Fathom model, a new plant, eight chillers and several customers have been added to the system.

2004 - TME Energy Services Division developed an AFT Fathom model of an existing, energy-intensive district cooling system serving the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. They were able to achieve annual energy savings of 1.9 million KWHr, $67,000 in pumping power, and $1.2 million in annual chiller electrical and gas energy savings.

1999 - Fern Engineering, Inc. was contracted by a major refinery to reduce the exhaust gas temperature variations of their gas turbine fleet. They purchased AFT Arrow specifically for this assignment, using it as a benchmark for sonic choking predictions against test data.

1999 - Judy Hodgson, pump consultant at DuPont, used AFT Fathom to solve a circulating pump failure at DuPont’s Experimental Station. With no historical data available to indicate where the pump was operating, Judy modeled the caustic circulation system’s sump, circulating pump, heat exchanger, spray nozzles and interconnecting piping. AFT Fathom was later standardized at DuPont.