Improved lumping friction model for liquid pipe flow

Abstract

Normally, during one-dimensional pipe flow, the friction terms are calculated with the use of a numerical method (for example MOC - method of characteristics) at every computational node along the pipe and at every time step. This procedure tends to increase the computational effort greatly. A considerable increase in computational speed can be archived by calculating the frequency-dependent friction at the end of the pipe only. To avoid possible problems (no damping at closed walls, underestimate damping on high impedance components) the frequency-dependent friction term is calculated from the flow waves. The lumping friction model in this work is based on a modificated Schohl convolution integral solution. In addition, the work examined the impact of using of simplified effective weighting function on the obtained results of numerical simulations. The modified method in conjunction with the use of simplified weighting function allow determination of real-time estimate of the basic parameters representing the fluid flow in complex hydraulic systems, water supply, etc.