Pipelines as natural gas transmission system is capable to transport a huge volume of gas. Trunkline or mainline is an important part of the system which carries high-pressure natural gas through large-diameter pipes from processing plant to consumption regions. A considerable investment is required for the construction of such pipelines as the major part of the gas transportation system. Furthermore, the cost of trunk line construction depends mainly on design and operating parameters. Thus, finding optimal values for the parameters which minimise the investment over the life of the system, i.e., life cycle cost, could be quite advantageous. In this paper, an approach based on annealing algorithm and a more comprehensive mathematical model presented in the literature is proposed to find optimal values for the design of natural gas trunk line. The life cycle cost is considered as the objective function of the proposed optimisation process.

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