Optimal Design of Tanker’s Pump and Piping Systems

A computer-aided planning method is proposed to design pump and piping systems used for the tanker’s oil unloading process. The following two planning models are combined hierarchically for the purpose of investigating a system’s multiple design objectives simultaneously: (a) A multiobjective nonlinear optimal planning model is developed to determine the set of Pareto optimal solutions concerning pipe diameters and the pump head. In this model, the following two mutually conflicting and noncommensurable objective functions are minimized—the total piping system’s size, and the pump size. (b) A simulation model is developed to check the dynamic behavior of the oil unloading process, and the real unloading time is calculated together with oil level differences among tanks. The validity and effectiveness of the design method proposed here is ascertained through the numerical calculation for a real existing tanker’s pump and piping system.