Did you know that every year about 1,500 cubic kilometers of wastewater are generated globally?  That equals, according to a recent report for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), six times more than the water existing in all the rivers on the planet – equal to about 600 million Olympic-size swimming pools.

Processing that huge volume of wastewater is a massive infrastructure challenge.  And with the world’s growth in urban populations ever on the rise, it is driving the use of advanced technologies to create the most efficient and innovative wastewater treatment facilities.

A stellar example can be found in the design of a new wastewater treatment and recycling plant in Seeb, Muscat, Oman.   Designed by South Korea-based Hyundai Engineering Company (HEC) the project is remarkable for several reasons.  First, it reflects HEC’s move from a 2D design approach to the adoption of an advanced 3D model-based design process for industrial plant design.  When the company was awarded work on the A’Seeb Wastewater Treatment Plant it recognized the project as the perfect opportunity to pilot a new Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based design workflow.

Wastewater treatment plant model created using Autodesk Plant Design Suite.  Image courtesy of Hyundai Engineering.

Second, the HEC project demonstrates how leading design firms can apply the full range of resources offered by the Autodesk Plant Design Suite. HEC recognized that the suite’s compatible design and modeling tools would help improve multi-discipline collaboration.  Also, its visualization tools could be used to produce realistic imagery, like the image shown above, that would help the company communicate more easily with its client and other stakeholders.

Over the course of its work on the plant, HEC used various tools in the suite. For example, AutoCAD Plant 3D software simplified the modeling of pipeline, and helped all parties involved stay up-to-date by enabling engineers to directly exchange basic data in the 3D models and drawings.

Steel Shop Drawing using AutoCAD Structural Detailing. Image courtesy of Hyundai Engineering.

Autodesk Navisworks Manage software was also used to integrate designs created with various applications and produce a visualization of the integrated model that was used to detect problems early in the design stage of the project.

Autodesk Navisworks helped monitor the whole project’s progress.  Image courtesy of Hyundai Engineering.

With Autodesk Plant Design Suite and its BIM-based workflow, Hyundai Engineering was able to not only deliver the A’Seeb Wastewater Treatment Plant project within budget and on schedule; the company also improved efficiency both in design and communication. Based on these results, the firm is looking forward to implementing their new BIM design process on future projects.

“Hyundai Engineering’s aim was to ensure consistency and quality of 3D design data involved in the plant project. With Autodesk Plant 3D, we were able to implement a 3D wastewater treatment plant design system, which meant we were able to complete the development of a 3D design system that could be applied to various plant projects going forward,” said Lee Seungsoo, section chief, Hyundai Engineering IT team.