Modeling and simulation of a gas distribution pipeline network

This research study focuses on the modeling and simulation of a gas distribution pipeline network with a special emphasis on gas ducts. Gas ducts are the most important components of such kind of systems since they define the major dynamic characteristics. Isothermal, unidirectional flow is usually assumed when modeling the gas flow through a gas duct. This paper presents two simplified models derived from the set of partial differential equations governing the dynamics of the process. These models include the inclination term, neglected in most related papers. Moreover, two numerical schemes are presented for the integration of such models. Also, it is shown how the pressure drop along the pipe has a strong dependency with the inclination term. To solve the system dynamics through the proposed numerical schemes a based MATLAB-Simulink library was built. With this library it is possible to simulate the behavior of a gas distribution network from the individual simulation of each component. Finally, the library is tested through three application examples, and results are compared with the existing ones in the literature. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.