Session: 20-06 Optimization I - Upstream O&G Operation & Design

Paper Number: 124905

124905 - Centrifugal Compressor Design and Surge Simulation for Active Inference Based Control 

Among myriad industrial applications, the centrifugal compressor is a critical equipment in both upstream and downstream oil and gas production and processing facilities. In upstream applications, the varying properties (temperature, pressure, mass flow) of crude oil during the life of a reservoir coupled with different modes of operation (crude composition) emphasize compressor surge as a crucial factor in its design and operation. The surge constrains design leading to oversizing and higher capital costs. It also narrows the safe operating range during service, resulting in suboptimal performance and higher operating costs.

With its origins in neuroscience, active inference (AIF) is gaining traction in industrial applications involving sequential decision making under uncertain and noisy conditions. This paper proposes a novel AIF based advanced process control methodology for robust surge control under uncertain and noisy conditions. AIF based control offers several advantages over traditional methods like Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) and Model Predictive Control (MPC). It inherently integrates perception and action, allowing for more adaptive and context-aware decision-making in uncertain environments. Unlike PID, which relies on fixed control parameters, AIF dynamically updates its beliefs based on new observations, providing a more robust response to unforeseen changes. Compared to MPC, AIF can be more computationally efficient in certain scenarios, as it does not require solving complex optimization problems at every timestep. Additionally, its foundation in probabilistic modeling provides AIF a natural advantage in handling noise and uncertainty in system dynamics.

As a prelude to building an AIF surge controller, a natural gas centrifugal compressor is designed for a set of input specifications using a through flow model to generate characteristic or performance maps. The maps are then embedded in an ASPEN HYSYS^® dynamic model to simulate operational conditions that result in surge. The key contributions of this paper are designing a natural centrifugal compressor prone to surge conditions due to highly uncertain suction conditions, integrating the compressor maps into a dynamic system model and simulating surge scenarios, and developing a methodology for AIF based surge control.

Presenting Author: Abdulnaser Sayma City, University of London

Presenting Author Biography: Abdulnaser Sayma is a Professor of Energy Engineering, the Head of Department of Engineering at City, University of London, and the Director of the Thermofluid Research Centre. He is a Fellow of the IMechE and RAeS and a member of the Energy Institute.

He was a research assistant at Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College London 1994-1995. In 1996, He joined the Rolls-Royce Vibrations University Technology Centre at Imperial College London till 2005 progressing to a Principal Research Fellow and Royal Academic of Engineering Senior Research Fellow. His work focused on the development of numerical modelling tools for aerodynamics and aeroelasticity in gas turbine engines for aircraft propulsion.

After a short spell as Senior Lecturer in Computational Mechanics at Brunel University, he became a Professor of Computational Fluid Dynamics at University of Sussex, 2006-2012 and then joined City University of London in 2013 as a Professor of Energy Engineering.

At City, He held the positions of Associate Dean for Post Graduate Taught Programmes (2014-2019) and the interim Dean in 2019 in the School of Mathematics Computer Science and Engineering.

He is the founder and leader of the Turbomachinery and Energy System Research group comprising. Research focus is on thermal energy, power generation from renewable resources and waste heat recovery and thermal energy storage. Specific technologies are micro gas turbines, organic Rankine Cycles, Supercritical carbon dioxide cycles and high temperature industrial heat pumps. The group attracts substantial research funding from the European Commission, EPSRC, InnovateUK and industry.

He is the founder and chairman of the European Micro Gas Turbine Forum (EMGTF) and has been a member of the Technology Board for the European Turbine Network (ETN) 2014-2020.

Authors:

Sharath Sathish BP plc
Mahmoud Khader University of Hertfordshire
Abdulnaser Sayma City, University of London
Sunil Shah Modelicon InfoTech LLP