BMT Fluid Mechanics
A model solution
From its base in Teddington, UK and further regional offices within Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Kuala Lumpur, New York and Singapore, BMT Fluid Mechanics has established a pioneering reputation in the field of wind engineering and numerical modelling. “With its roots in the Aerodynamics Division of the National Physical Laboratory, BMT Fluid Mechanics Ltd. has a rich heritage dating back to the 1940s – the pioneering days of wind engineering, industrial aerodynamics and offshore research. Since then the company has developed through continuous investment in research and development, advanced technology, innovation and staff,” explains Suba Sivandran, Head of Oil and Gas at BMT Fluid Mechanics. “The company is internationally recognised as a leading engineering consultancy providing specialist consultancy services to the civil construction and oil and gas industries based on world leading expertise in fluid/structure interactions, using state-of-the-art in-house capabilities for physical (wind tunnel) and numerical modelling.”
Within the oil and gas sector BMT Fluid Mechanics divides its service offering into three main products comprised of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), wind tunnel testing and operational simulation. “Whilst our products are aimed at different teams within an oil and gas operator, ship yard or service provider, all our services are used very early on in the oil and gas project lifecycle during engineering design, concept and often before Final Investment Decision (FID),” Suba says. “As engineering consultants, especially in today’s current economic climate when it may seem tempting to take short cuts and save on capital expenditure, optimising design early on in a project can help to not only reduce risks to personnel, environment and assets but also reduce costs by avoiding conservatism. We believe we can add value to oil and gas developments early on in a project to ensure there won’t be any nasty surprises further down the line.” The company’s clients include many construction and installation (EPCI) organisations; oil and gas majors; national oil companies; engineering, procurement, turret designers; FPSO and drilling contractors; and smaller engineering design and consulting houses. This broad base of clients has allowed BMT Fluid Mechanics to establish itself as a global market player with current works involving projects in the Gulf of Mexico, North Sea, the North West Shelf of Australia, South East Asia, West Africa and the Middle East.
Further to its services within the oil and gas sector, BMT Fluid Mechanics is extremely active within the civil construction industry. Within this market it provides wind tunnel testing and consulting services in building physics to ensure cost effective and safe design of civil engineering structures. The company’s civil construction team has worked on the design of airports, long span bridges, tall buildings and provide consulting services in building blast analyses, ventilation, fire and smoke dispersion, sand and snow drift, stack effects, wind driven rain and wind induced noise.
BMT Fluid Mechanics is keenly aware of the robust requirements placed on equipment operating within the oil and gas industry. To meet the needs of its clients, the company applies computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to answer questions related to consequence modelling, flow assurance and equipment design as well as hydrodynamics. Furthermore the assessment of risk associated with the release of hydrocarbons is a speciality of BMT Fluid Mechanics that is backed by years of experience in providing fire and explosion risk, gas dispersion, fire and gas detector mapping and thermal radiation analyses. “The design challenges facing the oil and gas industry are frequently associated with fluid flow problems in exploration, production, refining and process equipment. At BMT Fluid Mechanics, we use CFD as a key tool to solve problems such as ‘How do you decide upon equipment spacing and layout when trying to limit explosion overpressure and fire exposure damage?’ or ‘How do you mitigate against the consequences of hydrocarbon releases on people, environment and asset?’” Suba elaborates. “We are backed by our own high-performance computing facility, physical wind tunnel testing facilities and a very experienced team of engineers who deliver clear and clever interpretations and explanations of the results as well as recommendations for improving design.”
Presently the oil and gas market continues to experience a period of sustained low oil prices. As the industry is increasingly forced to adapt to this new ‘norm’, cost-cutting strategies are typically employed by many companies within the oil and gas supply chain. “Every single player in the industry is impacted, some more impacted than others. I believe that the solution doesn’t necessarily lay with the consolidation of companies to realise cost synergies but could lay in partnerships and strategic alliances,” Suba observes. “I think there will be opportunities in partnering with companies across the supply chain in order to provide a turnkey solution to combat future challenges arising from low oil prices and low oil demand. I believe the industry needs to get more efficient as a whole.”
During the final months of 2015 and beyond, BMT Fluid Mechanics will continue to grow its impressive list of clients within the oil and gas market as well as to expand its presence within the offshore and onshore oil and gas segments. As the company continues to demonstrate its expertise within the technically demanding field of wind engineering and computational modelling, it will rely on its dedicated and highly qualified team of staff to deliver market-leading solutions, as Suba concludes: “Our people are a big differentiator from the competition. Through a rigorous screening process we ensure that all our technical staff hold degrees in a technical discipline, with many also holding Masters Degrees and PhDs. In terms of the services we provide, I feel that another competitive advantage that we hold in the market is an unbiased approach in our recommendations towards wind tunnel testing and numerical modelling (through CFD) services. We believe that at BMT Fluid Mechanics we can offer clients greater value than our competitors by providing flexible consulting solutions delivered by the most highly qualified people in the industry.”
BMT Fluid Mechanics
Services: Wind engineering and computational modelling