Abstract

In the operation of pipeline networks, compressors play a crucial role in ensuring the network’s functionality for various scenarios. In this contribution we address the important question of finding the optimal location of the compressors. This problem is of a novel structure, since it is related to the gas dynamics that governs the network flow. That results in nonconvex mixed integer stochastic optimization problems with probabilistic constraints.

Using a steady state model for the gas flow in pipeline networks including compressor control and uncertain loads given by certain probability distributions, we consider the problem of finding the optimal location for the control on the network such that the control cost is minimal and the gas pressure stays within given bounds.

In the deterministic setting, we present explicit bounds for the pipe length and the inlet pressure such that a unique optimal compressor location with minimal control cost exists. In the probabilistic setting, we give an existence result for the optimal compressor location and discuss the uniqueness of the solution depending on the probability distribution. For Gaussian distributed loads a uniqueness result for the optimal compressor location is presented.

We further present the problem of finding optimal compressor locations on networks including the number of compressor stations as a variable. Results for the existence of optimal locations on a graph in both the deterministic and the probabilistic setting are presented, and the uniqueness of the solutions is discussed depending on probability distributions and graph topology. The paper concludes with an illustrative example on a diamond graph demonstrating that the minimal number of compressor stations is not necessarily equal to the optimal number of compressor stations.

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