Abstract: The delivery of natural gas to consumers requires significant infrastructure that consists of numerous technical units and other gas transmission assets. The failure of a single component in a gas transmission and distribution network might compromise the reliability of the gas supply system. Thus, the proper location of facilities for employees and contractors performing inspections and maintenance activities is of critical importance for the uninterrupted operation of a natural gas network. In this context, this study addresses the problem of identifying the optimal location of gas network maintenance centres (GNMCs) in a natural gas transmission company which is actively seeking to improve its maintenance and service response times while minimising costs. In an effort to determine the optimal number of GNMCs required to maintain assets in areas covered by the company, a decision-support tool based on a mixed-integer linear programming approach (MILP) is proposed. The tool is applied to the case study of a natural gas transmission company operating in central Poland. The case study is extended to explore four alternative scenarios which illustrate the additional functionalities of the proposed model. The model results indicate that the total system cost of the gas network maintenance infrastructure can be reduced by up to 13% with the operation of only two out of five existing GNMCs and one candidate facility. The results also demonstrate the versatility of the optimisation model since it enables decision-makers to evaluate the effects of changing maintenance strategies.

中文翻译：

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天然气管网维护中心的最佳选址：来自波兰的案例研究

摘要：向消费者输送天然气需要由众多技术单位和其他天然气传输资产组成的重要基础设施。天然气输配网络中单个组件的故障可能会危及供气系统的可靠性。因此，为员工和承包商进行检查和维护活动的设施的正确位置对于天然气网络的不间断运行至关重要。在此背景下，本研究解决了在天然气传输公司中确定天然气管网维护中心 (GNMC) 最佳位置的问题，该公司正在积极寻求改善其维护和服务响应时间，同时最大限度地降低成本。为了确定在公司覆盖的区域内维护资产所需的最佳 GNMC 数量，提出了一种基于混合整数线性规划方法 (MILP) 的决策支持工具。该工具应用于在波兰中部运营的天然气输送公司的案例研究。案例研究扩展到探索四种替代方案，这些方案说明了所提出模型的附加功能。模型结果表明，仅运行五分之二的现有 GNMC 和 1 个候选设施，天然气网络维护基础设施的总系统成本可降低高达 13%。结果还证明了优化模型的多功能性，因为它使决策者能够评估更改维护策略的影响。