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multivariate production systems optimization - Stanford University

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amifications as accurately as possible and therefore a criterion of net present value should<br />

be used.<br />

7.3 Results<br />

7.3.1 The Surface of the Well Model<br />

Once the well model was completed and the objective criterion was decided upon, a surface<br />

map was generated of the objective criterion as a function of two decision variables.<br />

Namely, the present value of the <strong>production</strong> stream was plotted as a function of the<br />

separator pressure and the tubing diameter (see Figure 7.13). The surface appears to be a<br />

textbook example of an <strong>optimization</strong> surface: nice, smooth contour lines bounding the<br />

extreme value on all sides. However, closer inspection of the surface reveals a different<br />

story. As shown in Figure 7.14, looking at a closer level reveals a surface that is very<br />

rough and ill-behaved. The rough features were masked by the graphics software in Figure<br />

7.13 but are plainly visible in Figure 7.14.<br />

A better understanding of the surface can be obtained by examining several<br />

unidimensional profiles. Figures 7.15 through 7.18 show four different profiles of the<br />

surface. The first three figures keep the separator pressure constant while varying the<br />

tubing diameter. It is clearly visible that the surface is very rough and discontinuous along<br />

this dimension. Figure 7.17 shows the amount of noise present at the maximum of the<br />

surface. Figure 7.18 is a profile of the other dimension. This profile was obtained by<br />

holding the tubing diameter constant and varying the separator pressure. The figure shows<br />

that in this dimension, the surface is a very smooth and continuous function. Thus, the<br />

surface is rough as a function of tubing diameter and smooth as a function of separator<br />

pressure.<br />

This conclusion about the surface obtained from the profiles is reinforced by<br />

investigating the derivatives of the function. Figures 7.19 and 7.20 show the first and<br />

second derivatives of separator pressure. These derivatives clearly exhibit that the surface<br />

is very smooth as a function of separator pressure (be advised that the two graphs are<br />

shown from two different viewing angles). The smoothness of the function with respect to<br />

separator pressure is very much in contrast to the roughness of the function with respect to<br />

tubing diameter. Figures 7. 21 and 7.22 show the first and second derivatives of tubing<br />

94

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