Quantum-Based Optimization of Gas Throughput in Natural Gas Transmission Networks Under Hydraulic Constraints Using QAOA

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00825v1
• Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2026 07:26:34 GMT
• Title: Quantum-Based Optimization of Gas Throughput in Natural Gas Transmission Networks Under Hydraulic Constraints Using QAOA
• Abstract summary: maximizing gas throughput in transmission networks under hydraulic and operational constraints is a problem whose complexity grows exponentially with network size.<n>This paper addresses the graph-based optimization problem by optimizing nodal-pressure assignments under the Panhandle-B hydraulic equation.<n>We show that meaningful gas-network optimization behavior can be obtained using considerably shallower QAOA circuits than initially expected.
• Score: 0.27998963147546135
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Maximizing gas throughput in transmission networks under hydraulic and operational constraints is a combinatorial problem whose complexity grows exponentially with network size, making it computationally intensive to solve exactly. This paper addresses the graph-based optimization problem by optimizing nodal-pressure assignments under the Panhandle-B hydraulic equation. By framing the problem as a search over discretized nodal-pressure assignments coupled with a cost Hamiltonian that encodes both the delivery objective and physical-constraint penalties, we establish a unified formulation suitable for the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). The mathematical model is adapted to a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) formulation and implemented using the Classiq quantum software platform. In simulator-based experiments, QAOA recovered the maximum-throughput valid operating point, consistent with classical exhaustive evaluation and classical hydraulic simulation reference solutions. A distinctive contribution of this work is the end-to-end execution of a reduced problem instance on the IonQ Forte-1 trapped-ion quantum processor. Remarkably, the hardware implementation used only $p=2$ QAOA layers, substantially fewer than the $p=30$ layers used in the simulator-based study. Despite this significant reduction in circuit depth, the QPU produced physically valid and interpretable candidate solutions that bracketed the continuous classical optimum, with each located within one pressure-discretization step of it. These results demonstrate that meaningful gas-network optimization behavior can be obtained using considerably shallower QAOA circuits than initially expected and provide an end-to-end proof of concept for near-term quantum-assisted gas-network optimization.

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