Oil & gas, energy, and mining
Smart digital monitoring with Digital Twin
A live digital duplicate of an asset, designed for remote safety monitoring, operation, maintenance planning, and design improvement.

Overview
In the oil and gas industry, it is an enormous financial load on companies and governments to manage and maintain their assets, which are worth billions of dollars and must be maintained to a supremely high standard of safety and operation. These assets can include:
- Offshore or onshore platforms
- Subsea installations
- Petroleum plants
- Gas plants
- Floating plants
- Power plants
- Refineries
- Gas pipelines
- Remote power transmission lines
- Remote mining installation
- Heavy conveyors
- Port loading installation
It is a core operation of these facilities to monitor equipment, processes, and production, not only for the profitability of the plant, but also to maintain a desirable level of safety for people and platforms. In-person monitoring can be upgraded to digital monitoring through sensors that transfer information into a live Digital Twin of these facilities and their equipment. Remote access for operation and maintenance is a unique solution that is feasible through digitisation of these assets. A digital set up would not only monitor elements like pressure, temperature, and vibration, but in time can be programmed to remotely access the full status of all equipment and processes in a whole plant.
A live Digital Twin provides smart digital monitoring and can optimise assets by allowing distance monitoring, maintenance prediction, and safety improvements. Digital Twin is a ground-breaking technology and solution with a potential to save vast amounts of money in operation and maintenance costs, while enabling advanced training and predictive analysis.
Capabilities
Key capabilities available within the University of Melbourne and our industrial partners include, but are not limited to:
- Asset 3D modelling, web-based visualisation of massive 3D datasets
- Maintenance process evaluation, fault probability and severity map development
- HAZARD study, mapping, and management
- Maintenance planning and prediction
- Sensor network data integration, visualisation, and analysis
- Real-time data visualisation, fluid process, dynamic equipment, speed, pressure, temperature, vibration, and noise
- Equipment and process monitoring solution and variables control solution
- Human safety improvement through distance operations and targeted intervention
- Distance operation
- Life expectancy and reliability improvement

Research and development team
- Prof Abbas Rajabifard, Director of Smart and Sustainable Development
- Dr Bahador Bahadori, Enterprise A/Professor
- Dr Soheil Sabri, Research Fellow
- Dr Alice Kesminas, Senior Fellow, Built Environment
- Dr Jagannath Aryal, Senior Lecturer, Geomatics Engineer
- Dr Behzad Rismanchi, Lecturer in Building Energy
- Dr Benny (Yiqun) Chen, Research Fellow, Systems Architect and Developer
Industry partners and collaborating organisations
Emerson Automation Solutions, and commercial and residential solution
HAWK Measurement Systems
Western Process Controls