Transient analysis for compressible fluid flow in transmission line by the method of characteristics

Abstract

Transient analysis for compressible fluid flow has been conducted to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of the dead-ended or volume-terminated transmission lines following a sudden pressure change at its entrance. The two partial-differential equations, based on the conservation of mass, energy and momentum, were derived for the one-dimensional adiabatic compressible flow with friction and entrance head loss. The governing equations describing the present transient-state flow are hyperbolic, and the boundary conditions include a fixed volume termination at the exit and sinusoidal disturbance in the sudden pressure change at tube entrance. The method of characteristics is used to transform the partial differential equation into the particular total differential equations, which can be integrated along the characteristic lines. The present result shows good agreements with the existing results. The effects of tube length. tube diameter and end volume are evaluated on the responses of the pressure and on the damping factor.