Suming Wu
Knowledge Systems, Inc.
Stafford, Texas
L. Ridgway Scott
Department of Computer Science
University of Chicago
E. Andrew Boyd
PROS Revenue Management
Houston, Texas
Abstract: We address the problem of minimizing the fuel consumption incurred by compressor stations in steady-state natural gas transmission networks. In the practical world, these type of instances are very large, in terms of the number of decision variables and the number of constraints, and very complex due to the presence of non-linearity and non-convexity in both the set of feasible solutions and the objective function. In this paper we present a study of the properties of gas pipeline networks, and exploit them to develop a technique that can be used to reduce significantly problem dimension, without disrupting problem structure, making it more amenable to solution.