Remaining Capacity Evaluation of a Gas Pipeline System under Open-Access Operation: Concepts, Methodology, and Application

Abstract

Under the fair open-access operation mode of gas pipeline network facilities, the accurate evaluation of the remaining capacity of a gas pipeline network can help to grasp the load rate of the pipelines, and the remaining capacity can be sold to the market to increase the utilization rate of the pipelines. In this paper, the indices of the remaining capacity of injection nodes, delivery nodes, and the pipeline system are proposed, and the theoretical as well as actual remaining capacity under different gas allocation principles are analyzed. Mathematical optimization models considering the physical, legal, and gas allocation constraints are established to evaluate the remaining capacity of nodes and pipeline systems. All the mathematical optimization models established are nonlinear programming models, which are solved using the interior-point method. The indices and mathematical models proposed for the remaining capacity are verified using a gun-barrel and branch-structured pipeline system, meanwhile, the results of the theoretical and actual remaining capacity of nodes as well as pipeline systems under different gas allocation rules are compared and analyzed in detail.