The primary purpose of the thesis is to develop a dynamic model of an oil pipeline network system and to analyze the control methods of dispatching oil flows for an effective operating plan of the pipeline network system.
The process of oil transportation is continuous flow which can be modeled in differential equations. The model is formulated based on the concept of distributed delay.
In the model the storage ratio of each station, the ratio of input rate from the proceeding station and output rate to its tank, is a control variable.
Three alternative method to determine the control variable according to the information which can be used in the real situation were investigated :
1) Control Scheme 1 : Fixed ratio scheme
2) Control Scheme 2 : 2 stage information scheme
3) Control Scheme 3 : Full information scheme
The performance criteria for the control schemes is to minimize the total cost which consists of tank cost, overflow cost, underflow cost, and operating scheme cost.
A specific case study has been set up for illustration. Results from the case study suggests that the total cost (excluding operating scheme cost) is a piece-wise linear function of overflow cost.
Obviously scheme 3 is the best in terms of total cost minimization, however, the negligible differences in total costs of scheme 2 and scheme 3 suggests that scheme 2 can be better than scheme 3 if the operating scheme cost is included.
