A new simulator, which will train OU students for life on an oil-drilling ship, is being installed in the ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility.

National Oilwell Varco constructed the simulator and donated it to OU. Four of these simulators exist in the U.S., and OU is the only university in the nation to have one.

Final installations and tests are currently underway in preparation for drilling classes to begin in January, said Luanne Howk, College of Engineering facility coordinator.

The simulator will function as if students were on a drill ship, said Chandra Rai, academic director of petroleum and geological engineering.

“It is a digital machine where students can actually hear the sounds and feel the vibration,” Rai said.

There are three drilling chairs and 12 high-definition monitors synced together for students to see the ship on which they are working.

Rai said students have access to all the controls of the drilling well on the sides of the chair in which they are sitting.

It is modeled after a drill ship currently located off the coast of southeast Asia. Students will be able to incorporate actual well log measurements from the ship, said Frances Freeman, petroleum and geological engineering student relations coordinator.

Also, it can simulate weather conditions and time of day. For example, if it happens to be raining on the ship, the weather conditions will show up on the monitors. The students then have to judge their work around that condition, Rai said.

The students will get hands-on training as if they are doing an internship during school. The simulator is a step toward the overall training concept of using other simulators in the near future, he said.

“We are still brainstorming how it will best be used,” Rai said.

The college is planning to hire a full-time instructor who has at least 25 to 30 years of experience in drilling to coordinate the course, Rai said.