Online Engineering 2019-2020

The dissertation is an independent piece of work on an offshore engineering topic. The students are encouraged to focus their dissertation on a problem confronting the offshore industry, and demonstrate how the design, operational fundamentals and skills they have learned during the taught programme can be put into practice to provide solutions towards addressing the problem. The dissertation should contain a degree of original work and demonstrate in-depth knowledge and application of concepts acquired throughout the MSc programme.  

The aim of this course is to introduce the student to the issues to be considered when conceiving the design of offshore jacket structures. Key concepts covered include strength and fatigue design, environmental loading, foundation design and fabrication and installation

This course is delivered online, where the students will access the teaching content via the web. The course tutor will be contactable on the on-line forum, as well as via email.

This course provides an introduction to the behaviour of the thin-walled stiffened plate structures that are found in the Oil and Gas Industry.  The small deflection and large deflection theories (including elasto-plastic effects) are presented for a wide range of in-plane and out-of-plane load actions.  A key feature is to explain how these behaviours are represented in Design Codes of Practice.

The aim of this course is to get an understanding of applied probability and statistics. Students will be able to handle variables of a random nature, deal with parameters of different distributions and data of scattering nature.

Hydrocarbon fires and explosions produce extreme loading on engineering components. Structural steels lose their strength and stiffness well below the temperatures associated with hydrocarbon fires. Safety-critical elements must be designed to withstand both these temperatures and the blast overpressures that result from hydrocarbon explosions. Simple models are used to assess the loading that results from fires and explosions. Structural elements are analysed to illustrate the design procedures that are required to prevent escalation and to design against major accident scenarios.

The purpose of this course is to explain the behaviour of steelwork connections and how this is translated into a wide range of design tools.

The fundamental concept is one of force paths, and how this applies to a wide range of different types of connections  is the key feature of this course.

The course is assessed by four coursework assignments.  Although the first two are standard designs, the third and fourth assignment are both for a very non-standard detail which requires fundamental thinking about connection behaviour, and about the practical constraints that need to be accommodated

Need for understanding structural dynamics in modern offshore engineering and beyond arises from the fact that structures are often subjected to dynamic loads such as waves, wind, earthquake, blast and impacts. The structural engineer must therefore be able to understand and quantify dynamic loads and their effects in design and analysis. This course explains structural dynamics starting from the underlying first principles, through more advanced concepts and methods (including analytical and numerical), to practical applications to offshore structures. Theoretical concepts are illustrated by worked examples and numerous tutorial problems and assignments will enable students to gain confidence in their use.

Hydrocarbon fires and explosions produce extreme loading on structures. The purpose of this course is to develop the ability to design structural components to operate effectively in fire and blast loading scenarios in order to promote safety.  Fundamental principles and concepts are covered to provide the essential physical understanding of a structure’s behaviour at high temperatures or under dynamic loading. Simple models are used to assess the loading that results from fires and explosions. Industrial standards and design guidelines are explained.

The course provides an understanding of theoretical formulation, data sources and integration into simulator, and quantification of uncertainties necessary for transforming real reservoir engineering problems into manageable numerical simulation models.

This course provides students with an understanding of the fundamentals of well fluids and reservoir testing and the implications for reservoir characterisation and field development. The theory of reservoir pressure testing is introduced, testing methods examined and some of the standard analysis techniques are explored using both hand calculations and industry standard software.

This course provides students with an understanding of the engineering science and principles that underpin the drilling of oil and gas well, production technologies, design methodologies, as well as associated safety and environmental considerations.

With growing demand on energy, there is increasing need to maximise the production of oil and gas, especially from depleting reservoirs. This course examines the methods and processes of enhanced recovery of oil and gas and provides students with the knowledge and understanding required to develop, acquire and safely integrate enhanced oil recovery technologies into field development plan and field operations.  

This course will equip students with the required knowledge of offshore and subsea oil and gas production systems, and to enable them to gain an appreciation of the infrastructure and facilities that need to be removed during decommissioning.

The course provides an understanding of the flow of hydrocarbon fluids through reservoir rocks and the interplay between the fluid and rock properties and reservoir performance.

Aims

To provide an understanding of the physical principles, technologies and systems associated with renewable energy generation from geothermal and hydro sources. To provide an understanding of the position of these sources of energy in the current and future global energy requirements and the technical challenges in meeting the future energy demand.

The course aims to give students an in-depth treatment of the critical technical aspects of loss of containment including factors leading to loss of containment and consequence modelling.

The dissertation IS an independent piece of WORK based ON a topic of the students' own choice, offering the student the opportunity of putting their acquired knowledge in to a practical application. Students are encouraged to focus their dissertations on a problem within their own organisations and demonstrate how the project management techniques that they have covered can be put in to practice. The dissertation should contain a degree of original work and demonstrate in-depth the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the MSc programme.

The course aims to provide understanding of main principles and techniques underpinning computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combining numerical methods with practical experience using appropriate software. The course develops a foundation for understanding, developing and analysing successful simulations of fluid flows applicable to a broad range of applications.

The aim of the course is to give students a theoretical and practical understanding of the main technologies and unit operations involved in upstream oil and gas processing. The key aspects of process safety are also covered to provide the basis for developing safe and operable systems.

To provide an understanding of generation from solar sources, the associated technologies and the main technical challenges.

Gives an overall picture of project management and introduces students to the main subject areas which make up this area of study. Emphasis is placed on practical skills, including writing and presentation. Students are given an overview of project management terms and definitions. Introduction to project budgeting in the context of company finance is addressed and the area of risk management (including probability, risk attitudes and risk analysis methods)
introduced. Introduction to the important area of safety management as well as an introduction to managing project teams. Topics are covered in greater depth at a later stage of the course.

This course introduces students to the problems of organisational life.  The organizing concept for this course is the re-framing situations  whereby students will learn to understand work / business situations through four lenses (organisational structure, organisational culture, power & politics, and HR).  

This course describes in detail the technologies used to convert biomass into energy.  The course covers combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, bioethanol and biodiesel.

This course is to develop a broad understanding about the basic concepts in electrical engineering and power systems with emphasis on electrical systems used in conjunction with renewable power generation techniques.

This course builds on the re-framing approach to organisational life by considering whether a project manager should be a structural, symbolic, political or HR leader.  The main academic content surrounds theories of leadership, and that of groups and teams, and is designed for students to reflect on their leadership and leadership development.

This module aims to introduce the students to the principle roles, functions and the legal obligations of managers.  We will discuss the differences between managing small and large organisations.  In addition, the course discusses the development and the management of the economy of geographical regions (Macro-economics). 

Emphasis will be placed on the leadership and management behaviours and qualities.  Throughout we will refer to topical cases to illustrate the good practices within organisations.

On completion the students should be able to critically analyse the strategy organisations, identify reasons for business failures and develop a business plan for a new venture.

The course provides an introduction to project management and is aimed at students who expect to be working in a project related environment or are considering a potential move into project management.

The course covers a number of key aspects of project management from the project managers perspective and so whilst it does cover areas such as planning and estimating it is NOT intended to prepare students for such roles.

Students are expected to apply their learning by completing a piece of group project work.

The course introduces concepts involved in offshore brownfield structural engineering, including case studies and design examples for small, medium and large projects, as well as an overview of  lifting guidance, structural integrity management and offshore survey information.

Emphasis will be placed on good detailing and clarity of presentation of design calculations.

Students will access the teaching content via MyAberdeen and the course tutor will answer queries and provide guidance through an on-line forum.

This course introduces the key concepts and components that form the subsea control system. A subsea control engineer must be comfortable in dealing with a multitude of engineering concepts at the basic level. Subsequently, this course borrows from concepts in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, environmental engineering, civil and structural engineering and hydraulics to name a few. The course tends to give a high-level systemic introduction of the various fundamental aspects necessary for a well-operating subsea control system.

For students studying MSc Subsea Engineering. The aim is to provide knowledge of materials engineering & selection, and failure and degradation issues in a subsea environment, including life cycle analysis; to provide knowledge for understanding and applying the relevant design standards and selection guidelines; and to provide a detailed understanding related to fault finding and integrity management. Fundamental studies are combined with industry applications.

Principles of materials selection

Materials & component qualification: design standards & testing/acceptance regimes

Degradation processes – corrosion, erosion, stress corrosion

Failure processes – fracture & fatigue

Inspection techniques

Integrity management procedures

The course serves as the entrance to the field of safety and reliability engineering with the introduction of the basic concepts and tools of safety and risk management. Legal frames related to engineering safety are also introduced.

Contents include: Fundamentals of safety engineering; natural and man-made hazards; safety measures; accident and failure statistics; fundamentals of risk management; risk assessment techniques; classical reliability theory; modelling of engineering systems as series and parallel systems; redundancy; fault trees and event trees; availability and maintainability; UK safety legislation, including the Health and Safety at Work Act and its historical, offshore and other regulations.

Course provides a detailed understanding of the techniques used for installation, inspection, and maintenance of subsea systems, including seabed hardware, pipelines and risers, and the implications of such techniques for the design of subsea components and systems.

The module will provide detailed knowledge on various techniques and trends in the installation, inspection and maintenance of subsea equipment, especially pipeline and riser systems and principal components.  It will provide engineers with a sufficiently broad awareness of techniques used throughout offshore operations to give an appreciation and understanding of system limitations and appropriate applications for different subsea environments

The need for structural reliability analysis in modern offshore engineering arises from the imperative to control and manage risk of failure. However, to be able to do so it is first necessary to measure and quantify the risk. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to structural reliability starting from the underlying principles of statistics and probability, through structural reliability concepts and methods, to practical applications to complex offshore structural systems. The theoretical concepts are amply illustrated by worked examples and numerous tutorial problems and assignments will enable students to gain confidence in their use.

This course is designed for students to develop skills in the Structural Engineering of Jacket Attachments, with the key emphasis on structural clamps.

The course introduces the concepts involved in the design of Jacket Attachments, mainly structural clamps. It offers a range of design specifications, case studies and worked examples.  Emphasis is placed on good detailing and clarity of presentation of design calculations.  Design guidance is drawn from a wide range of bespoke industry practice, and serves to represent the range of approaches to the complex design of structural clamps.

The aim of this course is to understand and be able to carry out probabilistic modelling of uncertainty in engineering components and systems. Students will be able to obtain a good knowledge and understanding on random variables in probabilistic analysis and be able to carry out approximation and numerical schemes on components and systems.

Risk assessment, the common tools used for (and the legal requirement associated with) risk assessment are covered. Students will have a thorough understanding on the components of good assessment and management of risks, and be familiar with the basic requirement for HAZID, HAZOP, SIL, QRA and the Safety Case.

Offshore oil and gas structural Engineering course covering the conceptual design of topsides modules. Emphasis is placed on the variety of loading conditions, such as in-place analysis, load out, lift, and installation. Course covers manual calculations and drafting and offers worked examples.  Requires structural engineering background (e.g. truss analysis, member design) and the use of code checks.

This course is for students studying for MSc Oil & Gas Structural Engineering and can be taken by MSc Safety & Reliability Engineering for Oil & Gas students as an optional course .

This course deals with fatigue and fracture mechanics and its application to structural design and assessment. It encompasses theoretical background, but the emphasis will be on practical application.

This course is delivered online, where the students will access the teaching content via the web in 4 blocks at 3 week intervals. The course tutor will have scheduled times of delivery on the on-line forum. 

The course aims to give students knowledge and understanding of how larger process systems behave and are operated and controlled.  Focus is being placed on the stability of feedback control loops and on advanced control strategies aiming at enhancing safety and operability.  Specific cases across the safety hierarchy (basic and advanced process control, alarm systems, emergency shutdown and interlocks, etc) are addressed.

The course provides an understanding of the flow of hydrocarbon fluids through reservoir rocks and the interplay between the fluid and rock properties and reservoir performance.

This course provides students with an understanding of the engineering science and principles that underpin the drilling of oil and gas well, production technologies, design methodologies, as well as associated safety and environmental considerations.

This course provides a detailed overview of oil and gas field development from discovery to abandonment with particular focus on the decisions made prior to first production. The roles of uncertainties, economics considerations, safety and environmental impact on the design choices are explored.

With growing demand on energy, there is increasing need to maximise the production of oil and gas, especially from depleting reservoirs. This course examines the methods and processes of enhanced recovery of oil and gas and provides students with the knowledge and understanding required to develop, acquire and safely integrate enhanced oil recovery technologies into field development plan and field operations.  

The course provides an understanding of theoretical formulation, data sources and integration into simulator, and quantification of uncertainties necessary for transforming real reservoir engineering problems into manageable numerical simulation models.

This course provides students with an understanding of the fundamentals of well fluids and reservoir testing and the implications for reservoir characterisation and field development. The theory of reservoir pressure testing is introduced, testing methods examined and some of the standard analysis techniques are explored using both hand calculations and industry standard software.

This course offers the student the opportunity to put acquired technical knowledge and skills into practical application through independent and individual project work.

This course includes three key components where chemistry is fundamental to upstream and downstream oil and gas transport and processing. In this course, you will learn about general pipeline flow assurance, and risks related to the chemistries of waxes, resins, asphaltenes, gas hydrates and scales. Chemical strategies for managing flow assurance are discussed. Processes involved in converting oil to valuable fuels and chemicals are investigated. These include: distillation, coking, cracking, hydrotreatment and reforming. Natural gas utilisation including transport, processing and conversion to upgraded products is also covered, to give an overview of chemistry in the oil and gas industry.

Smooth petroleum production requires an understanding of all technical disciplines in facility design and their deliverables as well as of specific new technologies. Competent facilities engineering is needed from concept selection to commissioning and maintenance.

Facilities engineering course focuses on equipment and systems from the well head to the delivery point of the oil and gas industry. This includes not only the processing of the oil and gas but the support systems which might include water treatment, power generation and pollution abatement. 

The dissertation is an independent piece of work based on a topic of the student’s own choice. Students are encouraged to focus their dissertation on a problem confronting or a study related to the Energy industry. They should demonstrate how the knowledge they have learned during the taught programme can be put into practice to provide solutions towards addressing the problems. The dissertation should contain a degree of original work and demonstrate in-depth the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the MSc programme. 

To provide an insight into the legislation and the economics framework which shape UK, European and international energy provisions from conventional and renewable sources.  The course also aims to cover the fundamental safety issues which are important for the all renewable energy technologies.

Aims

To provide an understanding of the physical principles, technologies and systems associated with renewable energy generation from wind and marine sources. To provide an understanding of the position of these sources of energy in the current and future global energy requirements and the technical challenges in meeting the future energy demand.

This module is constructed around the project stage gate process which it covers in some depth. It begins with a discussion of project management and what constitutes project success. It then goes on to explore aspects of the project lifecycle including the importance of good framing, Option identification and selection, project execution and finally operation and review.

In the oil and gas industry, Petrochemical Engineering is the term used for onshore-based facilities, as opposed to offshore developments.  Students following this course will therefore develop skills in the design of petrochemical structures, including their foundations.

Concepts involved in the design of petrochemical structures are introduced, alongside a range of design specifications, case studies and worked examples. In addition to gaining practice in structural steelwork design, the novelty of this course is the inclusion of basic foundation design. Emphasis is placed on good detailing and clarity of presentation of design calculations. 

The background to the finite element method and its use in various industrial applications is explained in this course. As well as the modelling of linear static and dynamic problems, the modelling of material and geometric non-linearity is an important aspect of the course. Coursework assignments will be based on the student edition of ABAQUS which is supplied with the Course Textbook which students are required to purchase.

Offshore production of oil and gas requires transportation of the oil and gas from where it is produced to shipping vessels, storage tanks or refinery.  The transportation is done using pipelines which are installed on the seabed. This course examines the engineering and scientific concepts that underpin the selection of the material and size of such pipelines as well as safe installation and operation. The environmental impact and the role played by the seabed profile are also discussed. Contribution from industry-based practicing engineers is used to inform students of current practices and technologies in subsea pipelines.

There are many challenges during transport of oil and gas through pipelines. These challenges require a real grasp of the fundamentals in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, phase changes, deposition and/or obstruction, erosion and new technologies to ensure a reliable and cost effective provision of oil and gas. Deep water production, heavy oils, high water production, severe slugging, hydrates, sour gases, asphaltenes and waxes make this task even harder. This course will provide a detailed explanation of the topics, a well-balanced set of tutorials with real examples, invited lectures from experienced engineers and flow assurance specific software training.

The course provides students with detailed knowledge of risers systems design considerations. Typical riser systems including flexible, steel catenary, hybrid and top tensioned riser systems are covered. The ocean environmental hydrodynamics and interactions between vessel, mooring and riser systems are also considered.

This course is to provide an understanding of the need to and the efficiency behind conversion of energy from one form to another and the need to store energy in distinct forms, while minimising energy losses.

This course studies the challenges and solutions of integration of Electrical Energy generated from non-conventional Renewable Energy sources to the grid.  

The world is full of uncertainties and there is a level of risk in every human activity, including engineering.  Many industries require an engineer to manage significant risks and design for high reliability, such as oil and gas, subsea, nuclear, aviation and large civil projects (e.g. bridges and dams).  To  meet these engineering challenges and make rational decisions in the presence of uncertainty, this course will introduce students to methods and tools used by engineers to analysis risk and reliability.

Human Factors Engineering (HFE) relates to how people interact with engineering systems. Failures in these areas are involved in all major incidents. Candidates explore them as part of this course. First, a review of major accidents will be undertaken to identify how equipment design, individual behaviours, and organisational behaviours contributed. Equipment/system design and the effect it has on individuals' behaviours is explored. Human Error is addressed. Finally, organisational behaviours will be examined. Leading and Lagging indicators are explored and their strengths/weaknesses considered. Candidates have the opportunity to complete practical assessments led by industry practitioners with specialist expertise in HFE.

Decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure is becoming a major issue for the North Sea and other mature basins.  This course provides students with an overview of the stages of shutting down the production process and cleaning of the system and then the possible methods of removal of the structure.

Decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure is becoming a major issue for the North Sea and other mature basins.  This course provides students with an insight into the process used to find the best decommissioning option for a particular installation, taking account of the complex interactions between, cost, technical feasibility, environmental and societal considerations and safety. 

Students may have opportunity to carry out the project as part of an industrial placement. The dissertation is an independent piece of work based on a topic of students’ own choice. The students are encouraged to focus their dissertation on a problem confronting the Safety industry, and to demonstrate how the fundamentals they have learned during the taught programme can be put into practice. The dissertation should contain a degree of original work and demonstrate in-depth the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the MSc programme.

This course offers the student the opportunity to put acquired technical knowledge and skills into practical application through independent and individual project work.

The dissertation is an independent piece of work based on a topic of the student’s own choice. Students are encouraged to focus their dissertation on a problem confronting or a study related to the Energy industry. They should demonstrate how the knowledge they have learned during the taught programme can be put into practice to provide solutions towards addressing the problems. The dissertation should contain a degree of original work and demonstrate in-depth the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the MSc programme. 

This course enables students to write a dissertation based on a process safety related topic. The wide aim of the course is to engage students in a problem which ties together the learning outcomes of the programme at an appropriate technical level.

This course enables students to write a dissertation based on a subsea related topic of the student’s own choice. Students are encouraged to focus their dissertation on a problem confronting the Subsea industry.

This course enables students to write a dissertation based on a subsea related topic of the student’s own choice. Students are encouraged to focus their dissertation on a problem confronting the Subsea industry.

The aim of the course is to permit students to undertake a piece of supervised academic research: to demonstrate critical thinking within a selected research subject; to collect, manage, and interpret data from a variety of sources; to prepare written documentation in a scientific manner appropriate for peer-reviewed publications.

The aim off the course is to permit students to undertake a piece of supervised academic research: to demonstrate critical thinking within a selected research subject; to collect, manage, and interpret data from a variety of sources; to prepare written documentation in a scientific manner appropriate for peer-reviewed publications.