Analytical and experimental study on complex compressed air pipe network

Abstract

To analyze the working characteristics of complex compressed air networks, numerical methods are widely used which are based on finite element technology or intelligent algorithms. However, the effectiveness of the numerical methods is limited. In this paper, to provide a new method to optimize the design and the air supply strategy of the complex compressed air pipe network, firstly, a novel method to analyze the topology structure of the compressed air flow in the pipe network is initially proposed. A matrix is used to describe the topology structure of the compressed air flow. Moreover, based on the analysis of the pressure loss of the pipe network, the relationship between the pressure and the flow of the compressed air is derived, and a prediction method of pressure fluctuation and air flow in a segment in a complex pipe network is proposed. Finally, to inspect the effectiveness of the method, an experiment with a complex network is designed. The pressure and the flow of airflow in the network are measured and studied. The results of the study show that, the predicted results with the proposed method have a good consistency with the experimental results, and that verifies the air flow prediction method of the complex pipe network. This research proposes a new method to analyze the compressed air network and a prediction method of pressure fluctuation and air flow in a segment, which can predicate the fluctuation of the pressure according to the flow of compressed air, and predicate the fluctuation of the flow according to the pressure in a segment of a complex pipe network.