The 2007 International Conference on Modeling, Simulation and Applied Optimization
The Petroleum Institute
March 24-27, 2007, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
TUTORIALS AND TRAINING WORKSHOPS

Statistical Process Control for Improved Financial Performance in
the Petroleum Industry
Bruce R. Palmer, Ph.D.
Monday, March 26, 8-12 a.m.

Harmonics and Power Quality Control in Industrial Power Systems
Ali Mihrig, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Monday, March 26, 8-12 a.m.

Power Electronics: Recent Developments and Applications
Abdul Rahiman Beig, Ph.D.
Tuesday, March 27, 8-12 a.m.

Global Optimization Techniques - Application to Models History
Matching and Field Development
Ralf Schulze-Riegert, Ph.D.
Shawket G. Ghedan, Ph.D.
Tuesday, March 27, 8-12 a.m.

Application of Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) Analysis to
the Thermal Design of Electronic Equipment
Peter Rodgers, Ph.D.
Monday, March 26, 1-4 p.m.

Vibration-Control Systems: Conceptual Design, Recent
Developments and Practical Implementation
Nader Jalili, Ph.D.
Tuesday, March 27, 8-12 a.m.

Development of Project Management Skills
Matej Zajc, Ph.D.
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Slovenia
Saturday, March 24, 8:00am - 4:30 p.m.

Development of Leadership Skills
Kurt R. Richter, Ph.D.
Technical University of Graz, Austria
Sunday, March 25, 11:00am - 5:30 p.m.
Open to students only
Statistical Process Control for Improved Financial Performance in the Petroleum Industry
Bruce R. Palmer, Ph.D.
The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
bpalmer@pi.ac.ae
Biographical Sketch
Professor Palmer graduated with honors from the Colorado School of Mines in metallurgical
engineering and obtained a Ph.D. in metallurgy from the University of Utah. He joined the South
Dakota School of Mines and Technology where he held the positions of assistant, associate and full
professor. He taught chemical processing and conducted research on chemical processing and
high-temperature corrosion in coal gasification. In 1985 Dr. Palmer moved to the U.S. independent
energy company, Kerr-McGee, to manage basic research, process research, services and quality.
He then transferred to Kerr-McGee Global Chemical Operations where he implemented continuous
improvement initiatives. Dr. Palmer has 38 technical papers and patents. He is a member of
American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society and the Tau Beta Pi
honorary engineering fraternity. He also is a member of the National Association of Corrosion
Engineers and is 2006-2007 Chairman of the UAE NACE chapter. He is recipient of the Colorado
School of Mines' van Diest Gold Medal, the ASM Bradley Stoughton Award for outstanding
professors, the AIME Arthur F. Taggart for an outstanding surface chemistry paper, and the AIME
Publications Committee Award for an exceptional book.
Tutorial Abstract
Maintaining good control requires the ability to identify real changes in control signals in
the presence of random variation, also termed “noise.” In industrial plants sources of random
variation are the process, the sampling technique and the measurement system. The control
issue can arise in a number of important settings from control of processes in petroleum and
chemical plants to control of costs using periodic financial data.
Statistical process control (SPC) was designed to alert the user to real shifts in process
conditions in the presence of random variation in control signals. In application, SPC identifies
conditions where change has occurred so the user can take appropriate action. Equally
important, use of SPC ensures that action is not taken in absence of real change because such
response can needlessly increase variation in an operating unit.
SPC is implemented using a simple set of applicable rules which will be illustrated with
hands-on examples in the tutorial. Implementation of SPC is illustrated using Excel to solve a
number of important industrial problems such as process control, analyses of maintenance data
to identify equipment problems, and analysis of period cost data to spot significant changes in
financial performance.
Who should attend this course?



Operations engineers, managers and scientists involved in process control and quality
control,
Maintenance engineers because SPC techniques are used to analyze maintenance
records for significance declines in equipment reliability, and
Accountants and professionals working in financial analysis because SPC is used to
identify significant changes in petroleum and chemical operations financial performance.
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Harmonics and Power Quality Control in Industrial Power Systems
Ali Mihrig, Ph.D., P.Eng.
AM Power Systems Inc.
Suite Number 424,
Delta, BC, V4C 6P5, Canada
amps@ampowersystems.com
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Ali Mihirig, P.Eng., holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, from the University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He began his engineering career as a production
engineer with the oil industry back in 1978. After completing his Ph.D. in 1987, he joined AMEC
Consulting Services as a senior electrical engineer. He participated in design, analysis and
commissioning for many large industrial projects in Canada, US, South America, Australia and
Europe. Experience industries include, Pulp & Paper, Oil & Gas, Marine & Ports and Chemical
Plants.
Since 1994, Dr. Mihirig established and became the principal engineer for AM Power
Systems (amps) and continued to participate in industrial projects around the world. Dr. Mihirig’s
main focus on power system analysis, design, feasibility studies, front end engineering, power
studies including system planning studies, protection, arc flash, harmonic and power quality
studies.
Dr. Mihirig has taught numerous short courses and tutorials for IEEE, Electricity Forum,
and several client companies. Dr. Mihirig is the author of several technical papers on power
systems stability, power quality, grounding and protection.
Tutorial Abstract
As sensitive electronic equipment and harmonic producing loads increase in industrial
power systems; so do problems related to power quality. Although majority of power quality
problems in industrial power systems are related to harmonics and sensitive equipment, other
power quality problems are related to system design, apparatus, system grounding and operation
procedures. Accurate identification of power quality problems leads to proper analysis and
satisfactory solutions. This tutorial will discuss all three aspects of identification, analysis and
solutions that are practical and cost effective. The instructor will share his many years of rich
experience in this field with participants.
This tutorial will be divided to three parts, introduction and background information,
system design, specifications and meeting standards and last part will be practical experience
with several industrial plants around the world. This tutorial will address the following topics:
 Nature of Harmonics and Power Quality Problems
 Typical sources of harmonics, power quality problems and diagnoses.
 Meeting international standards on Harmonics & Power Quality
 Industrial System Design Issues Related to Power Quality Control
 Analysis and Mitigation of Power Quality Problems
 Importance of Field Measurements and interpretations.
 Dealing with Package supplied equipment and EPC Projects.
 Troubleshooting Power Quality Problems.
 Practical Experience and Case Studies.
Who should attend this course?
Power System & distribution engineers, Consultant engineers, Utility system planning engineers,
Utility regulators,
Plant engineers, Plant Superintendence, Maintenance engineers and
technicians, government inspectors and regulators, engineers and technicians for standard
agencies, graduate students and fresh engineers. This tutorial provides summary insight of
technical issues related to power quality, harmonics and related world standards.
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Power Electronics: Recent Developments and Applications
Abdul Rahiman Beig, Ph.D.
The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
bbeig@pi.ac.ae
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Abdul Rahiman Beig received a B.E. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
from National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Suratkal, India, and M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees
in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He joined the
Petroleum Institute in 2006. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Electrical Engineering at National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Suratkal, India. From 1989
to 1992, he was with M/S Kirloskar Electric Company, Ltd, Mysore, India, as a R&D Engineer in
the drives group, during which time his team received the best indigenous product design award.
His research interests are in the area of power electronics, motor drives and FACTS. He has
published several papers in the areas of multilevel inverters, PWM techniques and CSI fed
induction motor drives. Dr. Beig also is a consultant to industry. He is senior member of IEEE.
Dr. Beig received the INAE - National award for his research work and L&T- ISTE National Award
for the best M.E. thesis in Electrical and Electronics. His paper on space vector PWM for three
level inverters received the best presentation and student award at the IEEE-IECON 2006
international conference held at Virginia, USA.
Tutorial Abstract
The tutorial presents the modern power electronic devices, their characteristics and
applications at different power levels. Different topologies of power converters and the design
issues related to different power levels with a special focus on high power applications will be
discussed. Pulse-width modulation plays vital role in deciding the performance of the power
converters; the different types of PWM techniques and their applications will be presented.
Applications in electric drives, UPS systems, active filters, SVCs, power conditioners will be
presented with applicable case studies.
In the recent years, DSP based embedded controllers are being used to implement
control and estimation algorithms related to drives and power conditioners. The design of these
controllers and the implementation issues will be discussed. At medium voltage levels, multilevel
inverter systems are replacing the conventional drives. Special attention will be given on multilevel inverters and their applications. The tutorial includes sessions on MATLAB-SIMULINK
simulation to train the participants on modeling and simulation of power electronic systems.
Who should attend this course?
This tutorial is designed for the practicing engineers and consultants who are involved in the
marketing, design, maintenance and testing of industrial automation products, electric drives,
power conditioners, ups systems etc. in oil and gas industry, paper mills, textile mills, cement
industry, construction and other manufacturing industries. This tutorial is also useful to the
academicians, researchers in the area of power electronics, electric drives and power systems.
Diploma engineers with basic electrical engineering back ground and exposure to modern power
conditioners and electric drive systems will be in a position to benefit from this course.
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Global Optimization Techniques - Application to Models History Matching and Field
Development
Shawket G. Ghedan, Ph.D.
The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
sghedan@pi.ac.ae
Ralf Schulze-Riegert, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant
Scandpower Petroleum Technology
Biographical Sketches
Dr. Ralf Schulze-Riegert is principal consultant with Scandpower Petroleum Technology.
Dr. Shulze-Riegert has 7 years of experience in management consulting in the petroleum and
automotive industry. 10+ years of project management and consulting experience in designing,
implementing and managing information systems and software development projects. He has a
number of a technical publication. Dr. Schulze-Riegert has an Education Diploma in physics at
the Institute of Theoretical Physics (1991), University of Hannover, Germany, and University of
Edinburgh, Scotland (1987-88) and a PhD degree on theoretical nuclear and particle physics
(1994),University of Hannover, Germany.
Dr. Shawket G. Ghedan is an associate professor of Petroleum Engineering at the
Petroleum Institute of Abu Dhabi. He is a worldwide Schlumberger-NExT Instructor. Dr. Ghedan
has over 20 years of diverse technical experience both in academia and in the oil industry. Before
joining the Petroleum Institute, he spent over six years as a practicing senior reservoir simulation
engineer with different operating companies. As a member in or a leader of multidisciplinary
teams he dealt with day to day reservoir operations and management, reservoir characterization
studies, static and dynamic simulation model building, as well as long term development planning
studies of some major carbonate oil fields.
Dr. Ghedan is the principal author of a number of technical papers. Research areas of
interest include: integration of data for reservoir simulation, modeling of oil recovery in the
transition zones, SCAL data and its application in simulation models, dynamic modeling of
fractured reservoirs, and optimization techniques and uncertainty identification in reservoir
studies. Dr. Ghedan was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for the season 2005 – 2006. Currently,
he is the chairman of Abu Dhabi SPE Section. He holds a B.Sc. degree in Petroleum
Engineering from Baghdad University, M.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Reservoir Engineering from the
Colorado School of Mines.
Tutorial Abstract
Reservoir simulation models are extensively used for evaluating oil and gas reserves, for
predicting production volumes and for planning production scenarios. However, what is the risk
associated with these evaluations, predictions and plans? Quantification of this risk has been one
of the major challenges facing the oil and gas industry.
Reservoir simulation models are an integration of all reservoir data both static and
dynamic. Uncertainties are present at all levels of reservoir data acquisition. Usually limited
information on the geological and geophysical background of the reservoir is available from
seismic surveys, logs, well tests, etc. Besides, although reservoir performance data are collected
extensively during the life of the reservoir, it still has (or “is exposed to”) different levels of
uncertainty depending on its measurement techniques and frequency of measurements.
Stochastic Optimization techniques with the capability to search beyond local optima are
employed to help evaluate reservoir uncertainties and reduce the risk associated with these
uncertainties on reserves evaluation, production prediction and development planning. This calls
for good understanding of these optimization techniques, their application areas of Assisted
History Matching and optimization of field development options.
Who should attend this course?
This course is designed for engineers, geologists, geophysicists, asset team leaders and
managers who want to get an overview of the reservoir optimization technology and its
application to dynamic simulation models construction and optimization of full field development
plans
4
Application of Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) Analysis to the Thermal Design of
Electronic Equipment
Peter Rodgers, Ph.D.
The Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
prodgers@pi.ac.ae
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Rodgers is an Associate Professor at The Petroleum Institute. He has been involved
in thermal design and reliability of electronics systems for the past fifteen years. Previously Dr.
Rodgers was with CALCE Electronic Products and Systems Center, University of Maryland;
Nokia Research Center, Finland; and Electronics Thermal Management, Ltd., Ireland. In these
positions he consulted on a wide range of areas in electronics cooling, spanning integrated circuit
packaging to facility cooling. His research interests have covered conventional and highperformance cooling technologies, the development of advanced experimental techniques to
characterize thermofluid phenomena, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
Peter has authored or co-authored over fifty journal and conference publications covering
a broad range of mechanical engineering topics, and has been an invited lecturer, keynote
speaker, panelist, and session chair at international conferences. Dr. Rodgers received the 1999
Harvey Rosten Memorial Award for his publications on the application of numerical analysis to
electronics thermal design. He is a member of several international conference program
committees, and is program co-chair for EuroSimE 2007.
Tutorial Abstract
The thermal design of today’s electronic equipment relies significantly on the use of
Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) software for the prediction of electronics thermal
performance. In the early-to-intermediate product design phase, CFD analysis can be invaluable
in selecting a cooling strategy and refining a thermal design by parametric analysis. In the final
design phase, detailed analysis of product thermal performance is performed to provide boundary
conditions for electrical performance analysis and reliability prediction. In this regard, however,
the lack of methods to accurately predict electronics operational temperature, in terms of either
absolute temperature, or spatial or temporal temperature gradients, is considered to hamper
progress in reliability prediction. This course provides guidance on optimizing the application of
CFD analysis to electronic system thermal design in terms of modeling strategy and flow
modeling approach, with no bias towards a particular CFD code.
Who should attend this course?
The course will benefit engineers, managers and scientists involved in the thermal management
of electronic systems. It is aimed at participants with varying expertise levels in CFD, from novice
to advanced.
5
Vibration-Control Systems: Conceptual Design, Recent Developments and Practical
Implementation
Nader Jalili, Ph.D.
Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, U. S. A.
jalili@clemson.edu
Biographical Sketch
Prof. Jalili joined the faculty of Clemson University in August of 2000. He is Associate
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of Clemson University Smart Structures and
Nanoelectromechanical Systems Laboratory. Dr. Jalili is the Technical Editor of IEEE/ASME
Transactions on Mechatronics, Associate Editor of ASME Transactions, Journal of Dynamic
Systems, Measurement and Control, Founding Chair of ASME Technical Committee on Vibration
and Control of Smart Structures, Past Chair and Vice-Chair of Vibration and Noise Control Panel
of the ASME, and member of both Technical Committee on Vibration and Sound (TCVS) as well
as Vehicle Design Committee (VDC) of the ASME. He is the author/coauthor of more than 150
peer-refereed technical publications including 45 journal papers. He is the recipient the 2003
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation, the
2002 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Department of Energy, several
Clemson University Board of Trustees Awards for Faculty Excellence in Research, major advisor
to three Best Student Papers in IMECE 2001 (New York, NY), IMECE 2002 (New Orleans, LA)
and IMECE 2004 (Anaheim, CA), Outstanding Scholar Fellowship (OSF) from the University of
Connecticut (1995-98), and First Class Honors for both MS (1995) and BS (1992) degrees from
Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
Tutorial Abstract
This short-course presents the fundamental principles and theoretical concepts for
vibration control systems design and implementation, followed by an overview of recent
developments and control techniques in this subject. There are many important areas directly or
indirectly related to the main theme of this course. These include practical implementation of
vibration control systems, nonlinear control schemes, actual hardware implementation, actuator
bandwidth requirements, reliability and cost. Furthermore, in the process of designing a vibration
control system, in practice several critical criteria must be considered such as weight, size, and
shape, types of dynamic disturbances, allowable system response, ambient environment and
service life. These topics are also discussed along with some related practical developments in
variable structure control and piezoelectric vibration control of flexible robot manipulators.
Who should attend this course?
Practicing Mechanical Engineers working on vibration and controls, academicians researching
and teaching in vibrations and controls, and both MS and Ph.D. graduate students.
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Workshop I: Development of Project Management Skills
Matej Zajc, Ph.D.
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Slovenia
Saturday, March 24, 8:00am - 4:30 p.m.
Biographical Sketch
Prof. Matej Zajc is at The University of Ljubljana. He received B.S. degree from Faculty of
electrical engineering, University of Ljubljana, MSc from University of Westminster and Ph.D.
from University of Ljubljana. His research interests are modern communication systems,
advanced digital signal processing and parallel computing.
He is a coordinator and trainer in IEEE Region 8 workshop program.
Workshop Abstract
In this workshop you will learn about the basic success factors of project, to create a vision, boil it
down and express the vision into a project plan and a preliminary budget. We will define the
characteristics of a good Project Manager, where to find this person and how to gather a good,
strong project team of dedicated members.
During the project the Project Manager needs to create trust and delegate work, check
performance according to the goals, prepare and run meetings and report to the project sponsors,
as well as to the project members.
Risk assessment and risk management is essential in managing projects. If things go terribly
wrong, how to handle the situation?
When the project is finished, how do we recover the knowledge we have gained? Project
evaluations are important and save time and money in future projects.
Format of Workshop
- What is a Project?
- The lifecycle of a project
- How to start a great project
- The Project Plan and Budget
- Characteristics of a Project Manager
- The Team members
- Delegation and follow-up
- Run effective meetings and reports
- Risk management and closing a project
- Evaluation
Who should attend the Workshop
The workshop is for those who want to use Project Management to accomplish their goals, at
work, home, or in the community. You will learn basic project management techniques, and how
to apply them in real life! This workshop is highly interactive with several exercises.
1
Workshop II: Development of Leadership Skills
Kurt R. Richter, Ph.D.
Technical University of Graz, Austria
Sunday, March 25, 11:00am - 5:30 p.m.
Open to students only
Biographical Sketch
Kurt R. Richter (IEEE Fellow) graduated in Communication Engineering in and received his PhD
from the Technical University Vienna (TUW), Austria. He was Professor at TUW before he
became Full Professor for Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering at the Technical University
Graz (TUG), Austria, in 1975. Since 2000 he is Professor Emeritus at TUG. From 1971 to 1973
he was at NASA in USA.
Since 1980 he has been actively involved in IEEE in many positions (Founding chairman of the
IEEE Austria Section, Director of IEEE Region 8 etc.). Currently he is chairman of the IEEE
Region 8 Awards & Recognition Committee. He is corresponding member of the Austrian
Academy of Sciences and honorary member of the Croatian Academy of Engineering.
In the last 4 years he has been serving as coordinator and trainer in an IEEE Region 8 leadership
training program and has conducted many workshops in Europe as well as Egypt, Kenya,
Botswana, South Africa, United Arabic Emirates and Bahrain.
Workshop Abstract
This workshop will introduce participants into interpersonal, group, team and leadership skills.
The format for the workshop is through interactive participation, using several exercises and case
studies. The skills developed are appropriate for application in management or leadership
positions in various types of organizations including business, industry or volunteer activities.
An important part will deal with problem solution and co-operation with difficult team members by
a proper involvement in the process of problem solving and decision making. In the workshop the
different types of conflicts as well as various strategies and its consequences will be analyzed.
Choosing the right team is a preventive measure to minimize the causes of conflicts and during
controversial discussions it is important to have a team which acts as objectively as possible by
keeping to the facts and weighing the consequences of the decisions. To select the right person
for a position it is very useful to know and to categorize its personality. Self tests and its
evaluation as well as case studies will help to understand a scheme of personality types
presented
Format of the Workshop:
Leadership
Brainstorming
Active listening: barriers to communicating
Conflict styles
Negotiating commitment
Developing a priority list and getting consensus
-
Image of a Leader
Personal interactive skills
Developing group skills
Teambuilding
Conflict Management
Overcoming resistance
Who should attend the workshop
The workshop is for those who want to develop leadership skills.
1