Efficient operation of natural gas transmission systems: A network-based heuristic for cyclic structures

In this paper we propose a heuristic solution procedure for fuel cost minimization on gas transmission systems with a cyclic network topology, that is, networks with at least one cycle containing two or more compressor station arcs. Our heuristic solution methodology is based on a two-stage iterative procedure. In a particular iteration, at a first stage, gas flow variables are fixed and optimal pressure variables are found via dynamic programming. At a second stage, pressure variables are fixed and an attempt is made to find a set of flow variables that improve the objective function by exploiting the underlying network structure. Empirical evidence supports the effectiveness of the proposed procedure outperforming the best existing approach to the best of our knowledge.