Special Forum
HAO Li-sha, ZHAO Yuan
Oil horizontal flow can be taken as a spatial system that consists of sources, sinks, transits and transportation routes, in which oil resources migrate and are reallocated, thus oil horizontal flow shows remarkable spatial features. In order to resolve the problem that in the present researches of resources flow spatial structure, the research objects and their connotations are different, and are not in the same system, this paper takes oil horizontal flow as a case, systematically deconstructs its spatial structure into four elements as flow node, flow relationship network, route network and flow field, according to Haggett's cognitive model for spatial structure, and analyzes their spatial connotations, features, significance, as well as key research points and their research methods, respectively.#br#(1) Flow nodes are where oil supplies and demands occur, the interaction needs between such nodes arouse oil horizontal flow, and flow nodes are also the geographical control points for oil horizontal flow system. Generally, flow nodes can be divided into three kinds, namely, source, sink and transit, and they all have two kinds of spatial feature, that is, spatial location and flux. Special effort should be made to analyze the flux systems and flux distribution patterns of different kinds of flow nodes.#br#(2) The movement pattern of oil horizontal flow is the line-like links between nodes, with metrizable spatial features such as flow direction, flux, and distance. Flow links connect to each other to form the flow network. To extract flow patterns, the analysis of the association relationship between nodes and the network autocorrelation within flow network should be specially emphasized.#br#(3) Route network is the essential condition for the interconnection between flow nodes, thus it is the carrier of oil horizontal flow. The development of route network should be paid close attention to from two aspects of qualitative morphological analysis and quantitative network structure analysis.#br#(4) Flow field is the maximum influence range of flow nodes through route network. Flow fields could be partitioned based on dominant nodes or dominant flow directions. We can examine the evolution process of regional flow fields, and analyze the relationship among it and the evolution of flow nodes, route network and flow allocation.#br#And then, this paper discussed the importance of the elemental analysis of oil flow spatial structure for the researches of oil flow mechanism and flow optimization. On the whole, this research could make the study of oil flow spatial structure more systematic and more precise, and it can also provide reference more or less for researches of other kinds of resource flow.