Application of 3D Collaborative Design in the Huanggou Pumped Storage Power Station Project
Golden Rain Xue Tao, Feng Lin, Zhang Xupeng
Abstract: 3D collaborative design is a powerful approach to enhance both design quality and work efficiency. Its broad adoption in water conservancy and hydropower engineering design is becoming an inevitable trend. This article draws on the practical experience of China Water Resources Northeast Survey and Design Research Co., Ltd. in the Huanggou Pumped Storage Power Station project to explore and summarize the overall implementation, effective execution, and key challenges of 3D collaborative design.
Keywords: 3D design, collaborative design, project application
Introduction
3D collaborative design forms the foundation of the new generation of digital, virtual, and intelligent design platforms. Building upon traditional 2D methods, it offers a more three-dimensional and visual approach to design objectives. This method has found wide application across mechanical, electronic, aerospace, aviation, and construction industries. Proven to effectively improve design quality and efficiency, its adoption in water conservancy and hydropower engineering is a clear direction for the future.
China Water Resources Northeast Survey, Design and Research Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as Zhongshui Northeast Company) has been actively tracking 3D collaborative design technology for many years. Since 2009, they have conducted software testing and pilot engineering projects, ultimately selecting Bentley’s technology to establish a 3D collaborative design platform. Through this platform, 3D design work has been progressively implemented in major projects such as the Pangduo Water Conservancy Hub, Fengman Dam Reconstruction, Huanggou Pumped Storage Power Station, and typical storage power station designs.
These pilot projects cover core engineering and design stages—including geology, topography, site layout, excavation, buildings, and equipment—and follow a comprehensive 3D design workflow: task breakdown, file organization, modeling, assembly, clash detection, and drawing output. As a result, the company has unified the collaborative environment, standardized layers and colors, mastered 3D collaborative design methods, developed modeling capabilities, established project management protocols, and effectively applied clash detection to resolve equipment conflicts. Additionally, a team of proficient 3D modeling designers has been trained, laying a solid foundation for further promotion of 3D design.
This article uses the Huanggou Pumped Storage Power Station project as a case study to introduce the application of 3D collaborative design in practice.
1. Project Overview
The Huanggou Pumped Storage Power Station is located in Sandaohezi Town, Hailin County, Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. The lower reservoir utilizes the Lianhua Hydropower Station reservoir, while the upper reservoir occupies a mountain depression on the right bank of Sandaohezi, a tributary of Mudanjiang River. The power station’s total installed capacity is 1,200 MW, consisting of four pump-turbine-generator units each rated at 300 MW. The average annual power generation is 1.413 billion kWh, with 1,178 annual power generation hours. The annual pumping electricity consumption is 1.867 billion kWh, with 1,556 pumping hours annually, resulting in an overall efficiency of 75.6%. The station supports grid peak shaving, valley filling, frequency regulation, and emergency backup.
In 2012, the Huanggou Pumped Storage Project entered the bidding and design phase. After multiple considerations, Zhongshui Northeast Company decided to replace traditional 2D design with 3D collaborative design starting from this stage.
2. Project Breakdown and Personnel Configuration (PW Professional Directory Structure)
To support 3D collaborative design for the Huanggou Pumped Storage Project, Bentley ProjectWise was selected as the foundational platform. According to project design requirements and the company’s professional structure, the project was decomposed accordingly.
The numbering system for each discipline aligns with China Water Resources Northeast Company’s document archiving and management standards. The secondary and tertiary directory structures—for example, within the factory discipline—are designed to meet the needs of the design process, content, quality control, and authority management, ensuring that 3D collaborative design proceeds in an effective, orderly, and manageable manner.
Based on this breakdown, the Huanggou Project Management Department developed a 3D design work outline for the bidding phase, clearly defining goals, tasks, and implementation plans. They are responsible for schedule control and ensuring project progress. Designers from various departments underwent pre-application software training to prepare for 3D design work on this project.
3. Main Design Process and Project Achievements
Designers from all relevant disciplines worked within the unified ProjectWise environment, applying specialized software tools according to project decomposition. These tools included MicroStation, Bentley Architecture, and Bentley Building Mechanical System. Each discipline conducted independent yet interconnected 3D design tasks, such as calculations, modeling, and assembly.
After each discipline completed its model, the 3D design studio assembled the final integrated model. Designers performed clash detection within their disciplines, while the project manager led comprehensive clash inspections during final assembly, coordinating cross-disciplinary collaboration. The main design process included:
The surveying and mapping team provided processed terrain data that met accuracy standards. The geological team used this data to build a 3D geological model. The dam engineering team utilized GEOPAK Site and Bentley Architecture software for site excavation and dam structure modeling. The factory design covered multiple disciplines—including plant layout, hydraulic machinery, electrical systems, HVAC, water supply and drainage, buildings, and metal structures. Using ProjectWise as the collaborative platform, these disciplines positioned equipment layouts using the plant structure model as a coordinate base. Equipment models were imported from specialized software databases, and for components missing in the library, designers manually created basic 3D models.
After final assembly and clash detection, relevant 3D and 2D drawings were produced. The primary design deliverables included:
1) Modeling of the upper reservoir basin structure, reservoir backfill, and main and auxiliary dam structures.
2) Three-dimensional model of the water conveyance system.
3) Models of the upper reservoir ring road, connecting roads between upper and lower reservoirs, and construction support tunnels.
4) Factory building and switch station models.
5) Models of hydraulic machinery, electrical equipment, and metal structures.
6) Heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC), and fire-fighting equipment models.
At the bidding and design review meeting for the Huanggou Pumped Storage Power Station, the project’s 3D collaborative design results were unanimously praised by attending experts. This recognition has further reinforced Zhongshui Northeast Company’s commitment to advancing 3D collaborative design. Below are some examples of the design outcomes:
4. Main Challenges and Solutions
1) Unlike traditional 2D design, 3D collaborative design lacks a fully mature design process, standard controls, and quality management systems. Establishing these standards is urgent.
2) ProjectWise serves as the core platform for 3D collaborative design, underpinning all design activities. Proper utilization and management of this platform by designers are essential for successful 3D design implementation.
During this project, a major issue was the frequent duplication of model references within and across disciplines, compounded by inadequate control over nesting depths. This significantly reduced efficiency in model assembly, clash detection, and drawing production, impacting overall progress. Given the inherent nature of 3D design, cross-disciplinary model referencing is unavoidable. To address duplication, increased training and accountability among designers are necessary, alongside making this a key focus in verification processes. For management, optimizing project decomposition and refining permission controls remain urgent tasks.
3) In the dam engineering discipline, particularly during reservoir structure remodeling, the workload was heavy and progress slow due to limitations in software processing power and hardware capabilities, which did not meet actual work demands. Solutions include upgrading software and hardware, and more importantly, reevaluating accuracy requirements for large-scale geographic models to improve efficiency.
4) The integrated model library within professional software remains incomplete, and reinforcement diagram drawing functions are weak, failing to meet work requirements. Consequently, designers often must manually draw components, reducing efficiency. Establishing a comprehensive model library and developing secondary functions are essential steps forward.
5) Converting 3D models into 2D drawings through section cutting is a critical step for 3D collaborative design to fully replace 2D methods in practical production. This project revealed two main issues: excessive cutting times and significant post-processing modifications to generated 2D drawings.
These problems stem from multiple factors, including designers’ modeling techniques, attribute settings, cutting plane placement strategies, and software limitations. To overcome these challenges, designers must refine modeling and attribute-setting methods and enhance cutting skills through experience. Simultaneously, software vendors need to optimize and upgrade related functions. Furthermore, aligning 3D drawing and grouping methods with traditional 2D representation requires conceptual shifts and the establishment of quality management standards.
Conclusion
After years of continuous exploration, Zhongshui Northeast Company has developed a preliminary understanding of the basic workflows and design methods for 3D collaborative design. Through multiple engineering projects, it has accumulated valuable experience and trained a team of designers proficient in the 3D collaborative environment. However, 3D design remains in an exploratory phase with several areas requiring improvement. Key issues include insufficient research on 3D design technologies, lagging 3D design review processes still dependent on 2D drawing reviews, and other constraints limiting 3D design development.
The company must unify understanding, clarify goals, overcome obstacles, and focus on solving current challenges to accelerate 3D design progress. The aim is to establish a technically mature, systematic, and practical 3D design solution and management system tailored to China Water Resources Northeast Company’s needs, fully meeting practical project requirements.
Author Biographies:
Jin Yu (b. 1981): Engineer and designer at the 3D Design Studio, Information Center, Zhongshui Northeast Company.
Feng Lin (b. 1962): Senior Engineer and Director of the Information Center, Zhongshui Northeast Company.
Xue Tao (b. 1971): Senior Engineer and Director of the 3D Design Department, Information Center, Zhongshui Northeast Company.
Zhang Xupeng (b. 1973): Engineer and designer at the 3D Design Studio, Information Center, Zhongshui Northeast Company.
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