Project
The Miluo Western 220-kilovolt substation will enhance power reliability supply to 160,000 users in Hunan, China. The CNY 120 million initiative is the State Grid’s first substation construction project that pioneers lifecycle 3D design. Hubei Electric Engineering (HEEC) was retained to establish a 3D collaborative digital approach for the project and deliver a digital twin to facilitate construction, maintenance, and management. Faced with optimizing the substation scheme to fit the limited footprint on a 10-month construction schedule, HEEC required integrated modeling and simulation applications to implement coordinated design and streamline construction management.
Solution
HEEC adopted ContextCapture for reality modeling to capture existing site conditions and create a digital context for the project. To accommodate the compact space and tight time constraints, HEEC established an open, connected data environment using Bentley’s 3D BIM applications, including OpenBuildings Designer, Bentley Substation, and ProjectWise for multidiscipline design and collaboration. Integrating SYNCHRO 4D provided dynamic construction simulation to optimize construction management. The comprehensive 3D models were used to build virtual reality scenes to enhance operations and maintenance, serving as digital twins to achieve full lifecycle digital management of the substation.
Outcome
Working in a connected data environment to design the substation and deliver the digital twins reduced land occupation by 22%, optimizing site layout and saving CNY 2.54 million in land costs. Bentley’s integrated 3D modeling solution enhanced collaboration among the multidiscipline engineering team to reduce design time by 65 days. Construction simulation with SYNCHRO 4D allowed the team to complete construction 30 days ahead of schedule, generating CNY 1.5 million in savings. Using Bentley’s digital applications helped HEEC reduce total project investment by CNY 6.3 million.
Software
Using ContextCapture to model the existing project area provided reliable environmental information to support substation site planning and selection, as well as corridor planning. STAAD facilitated accurate structural calculations to help refine the model and optimize steel quantities to save CNY 120,000 in material costs. The ProjectWise platform along with Navigator enabled a coordinated design that improved design efficiency and avoided 30 collisions. SYNCHRO 4D allowed HEEC to visualize and track construction progress to effectively implement schedule changes and accelerate construction to complete the substation in nine months, one month ahead of the planned schedule.
Project Playbook: Bentley Raceway and Cable Management, OpenUtilities Substation, ContextCapture, LumenRT, MicroStation, Navigator, OpenBridge, OpenBuildings Designer, OpenPlant, ProjectWise, Promis.e, ProSteel, ProStructures, STAAD, SYNCHRO