General Models for Optimal Design of Star–Star Gathering Pipeline Network

Abstract

The arrangement of gas gathering stations (GGS) and central processing facilities (CPF) in the natural gas gathering pipeline network really counts. Their reasonable number and locations can make the pipeline network economically optimal. Although many scholars have studied the layout optimization of the star–star pipeline network, they have only studied their specific constraints, such as processing capacity, and have not proposed a comprehensive mathematical model. Based on the star-shaped pipeline network structure, this paper proposes a star–star gas gathering station and central processing facility location problem (SSCPLP). Considering the constraints such as capacity, number, radius, and their combination, a general mathematical model of the problem is established correspondingly, which can be used to optimize the pipeline network layout and station location under different constraints according to the engineering application environment. Our layout optimization problem is a location-allocation problem of GGSs and the CPF in discrete space and is a kind of nondeterministic polynomial complete (NP-complete) problem, which can be expressed as a mixed-integer linear programming problem and solved by CPLEX. Two random cases and two real-world cases of actual gas gathering fields are analyzed under three different constraints (capacity, number, and radius). The obtained results not only prove the correctness of the proposed model, but also verify that the model can solve the layout optimization of the actual star–star topology under different engineering requirements.