In this research, known theory and methods for electric networks are translated and applied to gas transport networks.
The networks are represented by directed graphs with their corresponding incidence matrices. The theory about these is extensively discussed in addition
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In this research, known theory and methods for electric networks are translated and applied to gas transport networks.
The networks are represented by directed graphs with their corresponding incidence matrices. The theory about these is extensively discussed in addition to their relevance to Kirchoff's Circuit Laws.
Several components in a gas transport network have their behaviour compared to their counterparts in electric networks. These are the pipe segments, valves and compressors. More importantly, their corresponding equations for the relation between pressure loss and volumetric flow are given.
The known methods for reducing series and parallel connections in electric networks are translated to the case of a gas pipe network. This can be used to reduce complicated networks containing pipe segments in a series or parallel connections to more manageable networks.
Additionally, the Δ/Y transforms are briefly discussed.
Lastly, a theorem guaranteeing the uniqueness of network variables is discussed. This is applied by using numerical methods, in particular the multivariate Newton-Raphson method. An algorithm is created that returns all unknown network variables after being given a specific set of known variables.
It is first constructed to work only for graphs in which each arc represents a pipe segment. Afterwards, the algorithm will be expanded to also allow check valves and compressors and it is explained how further component types can be added.
The algorithm is eventually applied to an example of a large network based on a schematic approximation of the Dutch gas transport network.