Integrated model for optimal sectioning of liquid hydrocarbon transportation pipelines

Crude oil and other liquid materials are transported in large quantities through pipelines. Pipelines are an efficient and safe transport way. Nevertheless, loss of containment (LOC) accidents may be caused by external actions such as mechanical impact, natural disasters, and human intervention, among others. Consequences of accidents in pipelines can be efficiently reduced through appropriate design of the general system by defining the installation of sectioning (or blocking) valves at adequate distances. The valves located along pipelines reduce the maximum volume that may be spilled decreasing economic, social and environmental losses. Defining the location and number of valves in a specific pipeline section is a challenging decision due to the countless combinations of these two design components (i.e., where and how many valves). In this work, we address the valve location problem (VLP) using a model for optimal sectioning which assesses the possible location of valves to minimize economic consequences. To estimate and quantify the economic consequences a parameter calculation framework is proposed, employing the spill volume, commodity, area, and high consequence area types as inputs, and estimations for the cost of implementing the sectioning alternative...

• Autores: Pérez Suárez, Andrés Fernando
• Fecha de publicación: 2017
• Institución: Universidad de los Andes
• Repositorio: Séneca: repositorio Uniandes
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.uniandes.edu.co:1992/34220
• Acceso en línea: http://hdl.handle.net/1992/34220
• Palabra clave: Derrame de petróleo - Investigaciones; Transporte del petróleo - Investigaciones; Válvulas; Ingeniería
• Rights: openAccess
• License: https://repositorio.uniandes.edu.co/static/pdf/aceptacion_uso_es.pdf