Real-Time Visualization and Geometry Reconstruction of Large Oil and Gas Boreholes Based on Caliper Database - Visual Computing: Scientific Visualization and Imaging Systems - page 240

Fig. 13.10 Sample triangle strip connecting two sections

Listing 13.1 Pseudocode for creating the triangle strips

The three-dimensional model of the borehole allows the user to visualize the
possible problematic points and have access to collected data for the sections. For
each section, the user is able to request many calculations, such as sections
diameters relation, section angle, and cut type classification. This combination of
data and visual information allows an easier way to identify whether the borehole
is stable and which actions should be taken.

13.7 The Implementation of the Three-Dimensional
Visualization System

The visualization system, named ''GeoPoço 3D'', was written in C++ with an
OpenGL-based graphics framework. An initial prototype was made using Irrlicht
[ 13 ], an open-source 3D engine that provides a certain level of abstraction of
hardware resources by its API and great performance. A new version is under
development using Open Inventor [ 14 ] instead of Irrlicht.
The tests were carried out on a desktop with the Windows XP Professional SP2
operating system was installed, with a Core 2 Duo processor E7500 2.93 Ghz and
2 GB of RAM. The graphic card used it was an NVidia GeForce 9600 GT with
512 MB of RAM and 64 stream processors. The former prototype.

13.8 Results

A key point in this visualization system is that very large boreholes can be ana-
lyzed without visible performance loss. Should the borehole be rendered entirely
in high-resolution, the GPU would quickly run out of video memory and its
processing power is very likely to not be able to deal with this data flow.