Pipeline network elements modeling

In Section II,C we have deliberately chosen a simple set of problem specifications for our steady-state pipeline network formulation. The specification of the pressure at one vertex and a consistent set of inputs and outputs (satisfying the overall material balance) to the network seems intuitively reasonable. However, such a choice may not correspond to the engineering requirements in many applications. For instance, in analyzing an existing network we may wish to determine certain input and output flow rates from a knowledge of pressure distribution in the network, or to compute the parameters in the network element models on the basis of flow and pressure measurements. Clearly, the specified and the unknown variables will be different in these cases. For any pipeline network how many variables must be specified And what constitutes an admissible set of specifications in... 

Although reservoirs and tanks are not network elements in the sense discussed above, they do enter into pipeline network calculations. For many types of calculations, the impact on the network behavior may be modeled by treating a reservoir or a tank as a constant pressure vertex. On the other hand, the storage field deliverability curve (S5) is sometimes represented by... 

Inasmuch as the nature of pipeline elements sets these networks apart from electrical networks (more commonly referred to as electrical circuits) we shall review briefly the modeling of these elements. We shall, however, limit ourselves to the correlations developed for single-phase fluid flow the modeling of two-phase flow is a subject of sufficient diversity and complexity to merit a separate review. 

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