Optimal control of gas transportation systems

Optimal control of high pressure gas networks under transient conditions is to minimize the compressor energy required to pump gas down the pipeline to meet a known time varying consumer demand for gas while meeting a minimum contracted output pressure. Dynamic optimisation requires the use of distributed-parameter models: a partial differential equation or a system of such equations. The form of these equations varies with the assumptions made as regards the conditions of operation of the gas pipeline. The necessity of taking into account transient effects, makes the problem of dynamic optimisation very complicated from a computational point of view. For such a problem the optimal parameters of the operation of the system for a given structure (pressures and flows) are functions of time. The authors describe an algorithm for the optimal control of a gas network with any configuration based upon the Lagrangian dual problem