Digital oil and gas pipeline visualization using X3D

With the development of oil and gas pipeline construction, management technology and information technology, it is highly desirable to create a visual oil and gas pipeline management system to improve pipeline management efficiency. Meanwhile, with the increasing network tendency of digital oil and gas pipeline, it is urgent to publish pipeline data to the internet to enhance pipeline information sharing. In this study, we use Extensible 3D (X3D), which is a software standard for defining interactive web- and broadcast-based 3D content integrated with multimedia, to build a web-based, interactive and 3D dynamic virtual oil and gas pipeline system. The implementation process and method of 3D terrain modeling, pipeline modeling, pipeline affiliated facilities modeling, and pipeline parameters real-time displaying through integrating X3D with Java and OPC are also introduced. The digital oil and gas pipeline visualization system provides an effective way for pipeline staffs and managers to visually fetch pipeline information through web. The system also provides some useful functions such as over standard early-warning, linkage alarm for pipeline routine administering and maintaining. Our application results also indicate that X3D is a practical solution for web3D and virtual reality applications.