| Summary: |
A typical transcontinental pipeline network for delivering
natural gas requires in the neighborhood of a million cubic feet of
fuel per day to operate the compressor stations driving the
gas. Efficient design and operation of these complex networks
can substantially reduce airborne emmissions, increase safety,
and decrease the often multi-million dollar daily operating
costs. Government regulation, the growing complexity of
pipeline networks, and the underlying mathematics all contribute to
making pipeline design and operation highly challenging problems.
Working with representatives of the natural gas and high-performance
computing industries, the project focus is on models
and solution methods for pipeline optimization problems. The
research is applicable to the efficient operation of existing
networks, the evaluation of tradeoffs between safety and throughput,
and the design safe and energy-efficient new
networks. The work is cross-disciplinary, bringing together
researchers in the natural gas industry, discrete optimization,
classical applied mathematics, and high-performance computing.
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| Publications: |
| Book Chapters |
| [1] |
H. J. Flores-Villarreal and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Computational experience with a GRG method for minimizing fuel
consumption on cyclic natural gas networks.
In N. E. Mastorakis, I. A. Stathopulos, C. Manikopoulos,
G. E. Antoniou, V. M. Mladenov, and I. F. Gonos (editors),
Computational Methods in Circuits and Systems Applications,
pages 90-94. WSEAS Press, Athens, Greece, 2003.
|
| [2] |
C. Borraz-Sánchez and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
A hybrid meta-heuristic approach for
natural gas pipeline network optimization.
In M. J. Blesa, C. Blum, A. Roli, and M. Sampels (editors),
Hybrid Metaheuristics, pages 54-65, ISBN: 3-540-28535-0.
Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2005.
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| Journal Papers |
| [3] |
C. Borraz-Sánchez and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
A non-sequential dynamic programming approach for natural
gas network optimization.
WSEAS Transactions on Systems, 3(4):1384-1389, 2004.
|
| [4] |
R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, S. Kim, and E. A. Boyd.
Efficient operation of natural gas transmission systems: A network-based
heuristic for cyclic structures.
Computers & Operations Research, 33(8):2323-2351, 2006.
|
| [5] |
C. Borraz-Sánchez and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Improving the operation of pipeline systems
on cyclic structures by tabu search.
Computers & Chemical Engineering, 33(1):58-64, 2009.
|
| Magazine Articles |
| [6] |
Y. Villalobos-Morales and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Aproximando la función de consumo de combustible
en compresores de gas natural.
Ingenierías, 8(27):48-52, 2005.
|
| [7] |
Y. Villalobos-Morales and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Preprocesamiento efectivo de un problema de minimización de
combustible en sistemas de transporte de gas natural.
Revista Ingeniería de Sistemas, 19:79-105, 2005.
|
| [8] |
R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and C. Borraz Sánchez.
Mejorando
el transporte de gas natural mediante un método híbrido
de búsqueda tabú y programación dinámica.
Ingenierías, 12(45):54-65, 2009.
|
| [9] |
R. Z. Ríos-Mercado and C. Borraz Sánchez.
Técnicas avanzadas de optimización en sistemas
de transporte de gas natural.
Ciencia UANL, 12(4):438-450, 2009.
|
| [10] |
Un método de reducción eficiente para
problemas de optimización de redes
de transporte de gas natural.
R. Z. Ríos Mercado.
Nova Scientia, 4(2):26-41, 2012.
|
| [11] |
R. Z. Ríos Mercado.
Mejorando la calidad de los métodos de solución
para redes cíclicas de transporte de gas natural
mediante técnicas de optimización.
Acta Universitaria, 22(4):34-39, 2012.
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| Conference Proceedings Papers |
| [12] |
R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, S. Kim, and E. A. Boyd.
Optimizing fuel consumption on gas transmission networks:
Evaluation of a heuristic for cyclic systems.
In Proceedings of the 2001 IEEE Systems, Man, and
Cybernetics Conference. Tucson, October 2001.
|
| [13] |
Y. Villalobos-Morales and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Approximating the fuel consumption function on natural gas centrifugal
compressors.
In Proceedings of the 2002 NSF Design, Service and
Manufacturing Grantees Research Conference.
San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 2002.
|
| [14] |
D. Cobos-Zaleta and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
A MINLP model for minimizing fuel consumption on natural gas
pipeline networks.
In Proceedings of the XI Latin Ibero-American Conference
on Operations Research, paper A48-01, 1-9.
Concepción, Chile, October 2002.
|
| [15] |
Y. Villalobos-Morales, D. Cobos-Zaleta, H. J. Flores-Villarreal,
C. Borraz-Sánchez, and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
On NLP and MINLP formulations and preprocessing for fuel cost
minimization of natural gas transmission networks.
In Proceedings of the 2003 NSF Design, Service and Manufacturing
Grantees and Research Conference.
Birmingham, January 2003.
|
| [16] |
H. J. Flores-Villarreal and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Efficient operation of natural gas pipeline networks: Computational
finding of high quality solutions.
In Proceedings of the International Applied Business
Research Conference, paper 352, 1-7.
Acapulco, México, March 2003.
|
| [17] |
C. Borraz-Sánchez and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
A procedure for finding initial feasible solutions on cyclic
natural gas networks.
In Proceedings of the 2004 NSF Design, Service and
Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference. Dallas, January 2004.
|
| [18] |
C. Borraz-Sánchez and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
A tabu search approach for minimizing fuel consumption on
cyclic natural gas pipeline systems.
In Proceedings of 12th CLAIO Conference,
Havana, Cuba, October 2004.
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| Thesis |
| [19] |
Y. Villalobos Morales.
Pre-procesamiento de un Problema de Optimización
de Redes de Gas Natural.
Masters thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, FIME, UANL, 2002.
|
| [20] |
D. Cobos Zaleta.
Modelos de Optimización Entera Mixta No Lineal en
Sistemas de Transporte de Gas Natural.
Masters thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, FIME, UANL, 2003.
|
| [21] |
C. Borraz Sánchez.
Una Metodología de Solución basada en Programación
Dinámica No Secuencial y Búsqueda Tabú para la
Operación
Eficiente de Sistemas de Transporte de Gas Natural en Estado Estable.
Masters thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, FIME, UANL, 2004.
|
| [22] |
H. J. Flores Villarreal.
Operación Eficiente de Redes de Transporte de Gas Natural
mediante el Método de Gradiente Reducido Generalizado.
Masters thesis, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering, FIME, UANL, 2005.
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| Technical Reports |
| [23] |
Y. Villalobos Morales and R. Z. Ríos Mercado.
Preprocesamiento efectivo de un problema de minimización
de combustible en sistemas de transporte de gas natural.
Technical Report PISIS-2002-01, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering,
UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, November 2002.
|
| [24] |
R. Z. Ríos-Mercado, S. Kim, and E. A. Boyd.
Efficient operation of natural gas transmission systems: A network-based
heuristic for cyclic structures.
Technical Report PISIS-2003-03, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering,
UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, July 2003.
|
| [25] |
C. Borraz-Sánchez and R. Z. Ríos-Mercado.
Improving the operation of pipeline systems
on cyclic structures by tabu search.
Technical Report PISIS-2005-04, Graduate Program in Systems Engineering,
UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, November 2005.
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