Optimal Placement of Docking Stations and Resident AUVs for Subsea Pipeline Inspection

2026-07-22

AI Summary

This study addresses the joint problem of docking station placement and resident AUV allocation for subsea pipeline leak response under spatial uncertainty. The authors propose a two-stage mixed-integer linear programming framework: the first stage minimizes the worst-case response time across all potential leak locations, while the second stage further optimizes the average response time under the maximum response time bound established in the first stage. This work is the first to integrate both worst-case and average response times into a unified optimization framework and introduces a cost–time Pareto analysis to balance system resilience and economic efficiency. A case study based on the Johan Sverdrup oil and gas field in Norway demonstrates that a small number of strategically located docking stations can achieve highly effective response coverage, explicitly quantifying the trade-off between deployment cost and response performance.

Abstract

A two-stage mixed-integer linear programming framework is introduced for subsea pipeline incident response planning, jointly optimizing Subsea Docking Plate (SDP) placement and resident autonomous underwater vehicle allocation to minimize both maximum and average response times under spatial uncertainty. Phase 1 minimizes the maximum response time across all potential leak locations. Phase 2 reduces the average response time subject to the maximum bound. A case study based on the Johan Sverdrup oil and gas field in Norway, with 9 SDP options and 33 pipelines, shows that just a few well-placed SDPs are enough to achieve top performance. A cost versus time Pareto analysis reveals the trade-off between deployment expenditure and response efficiency, providing actionable guidance for designing resilient and cost-effective subsea inspection networks.

Problem

• subsea pipeline inspection
• docking station placement
• autonomous underwater vehicles
• response time optimization
• spatial uncertainty

Innovation

• mixed-integer linear programming
• subsea docking stations
• resident AUVs
• response time optimization
• Pareto analysis