Study on Topology-Based Identification of Sources of Vulnerability for Natural Gas Pipeline Networks

Natural gas pipeline networks are the primary means of transporting natural gas, and safety is the priority in production operation. Investigating the vulnerability of natural gas pipeline networks can effectively identify weak links in the pipeline networks and is critical to the safe operation of pipeline networks. In this paper, based on network evaluation theory, a pipeline network topology-based natural gas pipeline network method to identify sources of vulnerability was developed. In this process, based on characteristics of actual flow in natural gas pipeline networks, network evaluation indices were improved to increase the accuracy of the identification of sources of vulnerability for natural gas pipeline networks. Based on the improved index, a topology-based identification process for sources of vulnerability for natural gas pipeline networks was created. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified via pipeline network hydraulic simulation. The result shows that the proposed method is simple and can accurately identify sources of vulnerability in the nodes or links in natural gas pipeline networks.