STUDIES ON PIPELINE NETWORK

Abstract

Pipe networks are used to transport incompressible as well as compressible fluids from the source to various locations of their utility . Transient analysis and design of pipelines and pipe networks carrying compressible fluids , generally a gas , involves the solution of a set of non-linear hyperbolic partial differential equations Research efforts are , therefore , naturally intended to improve the understanding of the transient phenomenon in gas pipelines by solving the model equations . An efficient computer program has been developed to study the transient phenomenon in realistic gas pipelines The mesh method of characteristics is used to solve the model equations . This progarm has been executed on PC-XT and the available software packages , viz. LOTUS or HP-GRAPH , are employed to plot the transient pressure and flow rate profiles Finally , this program is used to simulate a practical problem , taken from the literature The results thus obtained are explained on the basis of Shock Wave phenomenon