Optimal scheduling of light hydrocarbon pipe network in Daqing Oilfield

Considering the fact that pumps frequently starts and stops under the intermittent transport mode of light hydrocarbon pipe network in Daqing Oilfield, an optimal scheduling model of light hydrocarbon pipe network is established with the timing synchronization method. The model considers the constraints including transport mode, hydraulic power, tank capacity within pump station and offtake flowrate at nodes, with the minimum pump-starting frequency in hydrocarbon pump stations within the study time period as objective function. Since the constraints are non-continuous and this model is huge in scale, some transition variables like relative tank capacity, continuous parameters and transport priority are introduced. Priority algorithm is adopted to solve the model, and the continuous parameters are changed to adjust the proportion that continuity and urgency of transport affect priority, to determine the optimal scheme. Meanwhile, to avoid repetitive computation, all possible pump-starting schemes meeting the constraint conditions are solved in advance and collected into a list for reference, by which the model can be solved more quickly. The proposed scheme, with pump-starting frequency nearly 45% less than traditional scheduling schemes, can provide guidance for optimization of field schedule.