Case study network design

There is little doubt that computer-aided design techniques can give rise to drastic reductions of time and cost in designing pipeline networks. For small to medium applications Bonansinga (B8) estimated that a job which would have cost 500 by manual solution could now be accomplished at a cost of 7 using a computer. The comparison is even more favorable to the latter approach when multiple case studies are required. For large applications Neufville et al. (N3) estimated that the time required is about 1/100 of that required by manual calculations. 

An application case study of the production network optimization model is reported in Chapter 5. In this context the integration of the optimization model into a planning tool to support interactive explorations of the solution space is demonstrated and guidance on how to develop the data required for quantitative strategic network design analyses is provided. Additionally, important analyses that can be performed using the proposed optimization model are introduced and improvement potentials identified in the course of a pilot application in industry are explained. 

Case Studies in the Use of Task Network Modeling to Address Specific Design Issues... 

Be aware of the snowball effect in a reactor-separator-recycle network and the importance of designing an adequate control system, which is presented in Sections 20J (Example 20.11) and 21.5 (Case Study 21.3). 

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