Title: The pipeline and valve location problem

Authors: Gilbert Laporte; Marta M.B. Pascoal

Addresses: Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT), Canada Research Chair in Distribution Management, HEC Montréal, 3000 chemin de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, Montréal, H3T 2A7, Canada. ' Departamento de Matemática da Universidade de Coimbra, Apartado 3008, EC Universidade, 3001-454 Coimbra, Portugal; Institute for Systems and Computers Engineering – Coimbra (INESCC), Rua Antero de Quental, 199, 3000-033 Coimbra, Portugal

Abstract: This paper, proposes an exact algorithm for the problem of locating a pipeline between two points of a network, as well as a set of safety valves which help control the damage caused by possible spills along the pipeline. A labelling approach is developed to determine simultaneously the optimal pipeline and valve locations, with the objective of optimising an impact measure that depends on the average number of accidents and their cost. Computational experiments on grid and random instances are presented in order to evaluate the algorithm's performance and to compare its results to the solutions provided by sequential approaches. [Received 11 May 2010; Revised 10 October 2010; Accepted 21 November 2010]

Keywords: constrained paths; labelling; environmental studies; pipeline location; pipeline networks; safety valves; valve location; accidents; oil spills; oil pipelines; crude oil.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2012.046669

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2012 Vol.6 No.3, pp.301 - 321

Published online: 10 Sep 2014 *

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