Gas reticulation optimisation for domestic sector in Malaysia

Abstract

Gas distribution has become increasingly important in Malaysia as most of the new housing areas have installed this piping system. A gas network analysis and design computer program with the determination of coincident factor has been developed to optimise the gas distribution system. The optimum and practical gas coincident factor are determined from gas consumption data of several residential areas. From that data, an analytical coincident factor equation has been produced. The developed computer program is used to optimise the existing and future expansion of gas distribution system. The steady state gas network is solved using the Newton-Raphson method due to its fast convergence characteristics. Besides that, the design of a new gas distribution system will be optimised through the use of the developed computer program. Some case studies have been done in order to compare the computed optimisation method with the current method used by gas utility company in Malaysia. [Received: January 23, 2009; Accepted: October 5, 2009]