University of Nottingham School of Chemical, Environmental, and Mining Engineering IMPROVING CHEMICAL PLANT SAFETY TRAINING USING VIRTUAL REALITY by Konstantinos Nasios (Bsc) Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2001 Abstract The chemical engineering industry often requires people to work in hazardous environments and to operate complicated equipment which often limits the type of training that be carried out on site. The daily job of chemical plant operators is becoming more demanding due to the increasing plant complexity together with increasing requirements on plant safety, production capacity, product quality and cost effectiveness. The importance of designing systems and environments that are as safe as possible to educate and train personnel is vital for the chemical process industries. Virtual reality offers the potential to expose personnel to hazardous situations in a safe, highly visual and interactive manner. Virtual reality has been proposed as a technological breakthrough that holds the power to facilitate learning. The ability to visualise complex and dynamic systems involving personnel, equipment and layouts during any real operation is a potential advantage of such an approach. Virtual reality and multimedia training is commonly used in many industries, aiding understanding and memory retention and creating a more interactive learning experience. Four desktop virtual reality training environments were developed for this research which highlighted issues related to chemical process dynamic simulation and plant safety. The pump training system is a virtual reality environment, which was built using the SAFE-VR virtual engine, to train personnel to operate two centrifugal pumps. The virtual hazard spotting exercise focuses on improving the users’ safety awareness of electrical and occupational hygiene hazards. The virtual boiler plant is a complicated and high detailed virtual training environment, which is characterised by its flexibility and by a real time dynamic simulation of the steam generation chemical process. The virtual flooding and gas absorption experiment was based on an undergraduate laboratory experiment for the Chemical Engineering degree course at the University of Nottingham, focusing primarily on training and safety issues of students using the equipment. The dynamic features of the virtual absorption column simulation give high level of realism in the virtual environment. Dedication To my parents Dimitris and Theano Acknowledgements The author would like to express his thanks to: The University of Nottingham for the funding during the duration of this research study. Dr Damian Schofield for his supervision, his help and continued support throughout the duration of this work at the University of Nottingham. I would also like to thank him for introducing me to the exciting world of the AIMS Research Unit. Dr Wilson for his professional input and his continual encouragement. Dr Robin Hollands for his professional advice and suggestions and his patience in answering the author’s questions. Everyone at the AIMS Research Unit, people who have been there and others who still are, and who made it all so much easier. All the fellows in AIMS Research Unit helped the author to get used to England and provided much needed encouragement and friendship during this work. My deepest thanks go to my family (Dimitris, Theano, Haroula and Nikos) and to my girlfriend Anna Paschou who have provided a great deal for support, advice and encouragement during my research. Contents Page Abstract ii Dedication iii Acknowledgements iv Contents v List of figures xii List of tables xxi Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Virtual reality as a training medium 3 1.3 Statement of research problem 4 1.4 Research aims 4 1.5 Thesis Overview 5 Chapter 2: Safety in chemical industry 2.1 Introduction 7 2.2 Safety culture 7 2.3 Hazards in chemical industries 10 2.3.1 Electrical hazards......................................................................................10 2.3.2 Health and occupational hygiene hazards ................................................12 2.3.3 Chemical reaction hazards........................................................................13 2.3.4 Explosion and fire hazards .......................................................................16 2.3.5 Operational and control hazards...............................................................18 2.3.6 Hardware hazards .....................................................................................20 2.4 Risk assessment and hazard identification 21 2.4.1 Risk Assessment .......................................................................................22 2.4.2 Hazard Identification................................................................................23 2.4.2.1 Reliability and failure analysis ..........................................................23 2.4.2.2 Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) ................................................................23 2.4.2.3 Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) ......................................24 2.4.2.4 Hazard and Operability analysis (HAZOP).......................................24 2.5 Training 25 2.5.1 Training Techniques.................................................................................27 2.5.2 On-the-job training ...................................................................................29 2.5.3 Training media and methods....................................................................29 2.5.3.1 Printed media .....................................................................................30 2.5.3.2 Personal instruction...........................................................................30 2.5.3.3 Films and video cassettes ..................................................................30 2.5.3.4 Computers..........................................................................................31 2.6 Summary 32 Chapter 3: Computer graphics and virtual reality 3.1 Introduction 34 3.2 Computer graphics 34 3.2.1 Computer graphics history.......................................................................34 3.2.2 Computer graphics theory........................................................................35 3.2.2.1 The graphics rendering pipeline ........................................................36 3.2.2.2 Faces and polygon mesh models .......................................................37 3.2.2.3 Lighting and reflection......................................................................39 3.2.2.4 Shadows, materials and texture .........................................................41 3.2.2.5 Hierarchies, kinematics and animations............................................42 3.2.3 Computer graphics software.....................................................................45 3.2.3.1 Computer-aided design (CAD)..........................................................45 3.2.3.2 Modelling and animation...................................................................48 3.2.4 Computer graphics applications ...............................................................50 3.2.4.1 Design Engineering ...........................................................................50 3.2.4.2 Computer art......................................................................................52 3.2.4.3 Presentation graphics.........................................................................53 3.2.4.4 Entertainment ....................................................................................53 3.2.4.5 Visualization......................................................................................54 3.2.4.6 Education and training.......................................................................55 3.2.4.7 Accident reconstruction.....................................................................57 3.3 Virtual reality 59 3.3.1 Virtual reality systems..............................................................................60 3.3.3.1 Model or Simulation..........................................................................61 3.3.3.2 Peripheral technologies .....................................................................62 3.3.2 Types of virtual reality systems................................................................64 3.3.2.1 Immersive virtual reality systems......................................................64 3.3.2.2 Projection virtual reality systems ......................................................64 3.3.2.3 Desktop virtual reality systems .........................................................65 3.3.3 Benefits of virtual reality systems ............................................................66 3.3.4 Virtual reality software.............................................................................68 3.3.4.1 Alice ..................................................................................................69 3.3.4.2 DIVE..................................................................................................70 3.3.4.3 VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language)..................................71 3.3.4.4 Sense8’s WorldToolKit.....................................................................73 3.3.4.5 Superscape’s VRT .............................................................................73 3.3.4.6 dVISE................................................................................................74