Abstract
Network hydraulics play a major role in the design and operation stage of District Heating (DH) systems, considering further hydraulic complexities expected in the near future. This paper presents a mathematical solution procedure that computes the network hydraulics, tailored as unique to the principal basis behind the branched type of DH networks. The procedure makes use of simple input data (i.e., pipe-node list) to obtain the mathematical description of the network layout via detection algorithms for the incidence and the loop matrices (the pseudo-code given). The matrix-based solution procedure was formulised to detect the network flow and pressure distributions either by use of the Newton-Raphson or genetic algorithms, based on the conservations of mass and energy. The problem formulation was maintained as correcting the end-user flow rates that satisfy the energy conservation throughout the closed loops of the network, which sped up the convergence to a solution. The developed model was used in a case study consisting of 220 × 2 pipe segments (supply and return) and 214 end-users, the results being obtained in 35.5 s via the Newton-Raphson algorithm. Despite the sensitivity analysis, the genetic algorithm was found to have premature convergences under various trials.
Published Version
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