A Location-Allocation Model with Obstacle and Capacity Constraints for the Layout Optimization of a Subsea Transmission Network with Line-Shaped Conduction Structures
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors In the paper, the method of solving the problem of layout design for subsea transmission network with line shaped structures is proposed. The authors have treated this problem as a location-allocation problem with the constraints of facilities’ capacity and the subsea obstacle areas. A mixed integer linear programming model is proposed in the paper to solve the problem. The total layout cost is minimized, taking into account the transmission route cost and the service center construction cost. The proposed model can find the locations of service centers, the allocations between customers and service centers, as well as the transmission routes which avoid subsea obstacles. The Delaunay triangulation method is used to generate the service center candidates needed for the model to find the solution. The paper is well-structured. The authors have reviewed the relevant research works. On that basis, the research problem was formulated. The proposed model is well presented in the paper with all the details. It was also experimentally verified using an offshore field with 19 wells as a test case. Please address the following issues: 1. Can the proposed approach be generalized, or is its application limited to the discussed class of problems only? 2. Please analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed method.Comments on the Quality of English Language
Please correct the English language of the article, especially in terms of style and grammar.
Author Response
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Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThe topic is interesting, but I would suggest the following comments for improvements:
- Please improve and organize the review of related works, analyzing additional papers published in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
- In result analysis, the author must explain the results in detail, with observations and general reasons. It is beneficial that the author includes the scientific basis for each finding.
- What is the outcome's substantial impact on the research field?
- Please, explain how the proposed solution and the obtained results can prove that the research problem has been solved.
- It is helpful that the author presents a real frank account of the proposed research method's strengths and weaknesses.
- The conclusion section seems to rush to the end. The Conclusion is really much too short, and the author will have to describe the research's impact and insights. The author necessitates rewriting the entire Conclusion section with a focus on the manuscript's implications and insights.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor editing of English language required
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The manuscript: A Location-Allocation Model with Obstacle and Capacity Constraints for the Layout Optimization of Subsea Transmission Network with Line-shape Conduction Structures, includes a good number of references, as 35, however, they are not detaied to appreciate the current state of the art. In addition, the problema formulation is unclear from the section 1 Introduction. Authors should revise the details of the related and recent Works on this topic to highlight the main contribution, which should be clearly stated in the problem formulation, which must be given in section 2. Problem statement and basic assumptions.
In section 2 authors mention that: As indicated in section 1, in this work, we will focus on a "location-allocation" problem considering obstacles and the service capacities constraints. .. However, the problema formulation is unclear, just given the required number of service centers, authors mention the need to complete the following 4 tasks to determine the 109 layout: 110
(1) Find the positions of the service centers; 111
(2) Select the size and capacity of the service centers from the available options; 112
(3) Determine the allocation between the customers and the service centers, in other 113 words, determine which service center should each customer be connected;
(4) Design the transportation routes between each customer and the corresponding 115 service centers considering avoiding obstacles distributed inside the target region;
The previous 4 tasks neither were detailed in section 1 introduction nor in this section to appreciate the formulation of the problem. Authors mention that To develop the layout optimization model, following assumptions are made:… and give another 4 items, which again are unclear to associate to the problema to be solved. Afterwards, authors again mention: According to the description of the problem and the assumptions, the input information is defined by the parameters below. .. and give 6 items, which again are unclear to associate to the problema formulation. Authors must emphasize in this section 2 the problem and mention if there are constraints or not, and discuss the posible methods or algorithms that have been applied or can be applied to solve the problema and how the authors compare their method with the state of the art. This is barely described in Section 3. Mathematical modeling, which must be place before the problema formulation. So, section 2 and 3 are not well organized and should be reclassified to appreciate the modeling first, and the problema formulation after the model is detailed. In this section 2 the constraints are quite difficult to infer and must be detailed.
Section 4. Solution strategy must be detialed to compare or discuss related Works, to appreciate the contribution. In the same manner, the text: As mentioned above, a MILP model is proposed. But there is one key issue related to this MILP model: how to generate the service center candidates. If the arrangement of 243
service center candidates is widely distributed across the target area, it is more possible 244 to approximate the global optimal service centers’ positions. Besides, it is not economic 245 considering the computational cost if we arrange enough dense candidates, although it 246 might bring high quality solutions…. It needs references to justify the claims.
Some references are missed as the one in line 254: Step 1: The Delaunay triangulation is applied to the original node set, which includes 251
the customer nodes and the vertices of obstacle regions. Delaunay triangulation (also 252
known as a Delone triangulation) for a given set of discrete points in a plane is a 253
triangulation such that no point inside the circumcircle of any triangle [ ? ]. The gravity 254
Some references and methods should be added to Table 4. Comparison of the solutions of initial global search and local search, which details just the results of the proposed method, but there is not a discussion on the comparison of the method with the state of the art.
Comments on the Quality of English Language
minor revision
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authorsaccept
Comments on the Quality of English Languageaccept
