Transient Flow in Gas Pipeline Networks

What is it about?

In order to come to a model for gas transport that allows for a solution on a large graph, here we make the standing assumption that the velocity of the gas is piecewise constant. In particular in the case of sufficiently high pressure, this allows a reasonable approximation of the velocity profile, which only has a small derivative in this case. Under this standing assumption the continuity equation that models the conservation of mass becomes a transport equation. Also the balance of momentum is simplified with this assumption. With the node conditions in the Network graph that require conservation of mass and continuity of pressure for the flow through the nodes, this leads to a system where transient solutions can be computed explicitly on arbitrary graphs.

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Photo by Mike Benna on Unsplash

Photo by Mike Benna on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Gas Pipeline Networks often have a complicated graph structure. Therefore it is useful to a have model that is simple enought to allow for an easy computation of transient states on large graphs. Such a model is presented here. In the operational range of gas networks, that is for small velocities and high pressure, the model allows for a reasonable approximation of the physical state, as long as the variation of the gas velocity is sufficiently small. In particular, the direction of the flow is not allowed to change.

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