Simulation of Network Systems Based on Loop Flows Algorithms.

This paper presents a simulation scheme for water distribution systems based on loop flows algorithms. Water networks are large scale and non-linear systems. The operational control of such system has posed difficulties in the past to the human operator that had to take the right decisions, such as pumping more water or closing a valve, within a short period of time and quite frequently in the absence of reliable measurement information such as pressure and flow values. Computer simulations of such systems have alleviated these difficulties. They allowed 'what-if' scenarios to be run by the human operator, giving him the possibility to know in advance the operational problems that can arise in the real-life networks due to malfunctions of valves or burst in pipes. However these computer simulations are generally relying on solving a system of equations and the nodal heads variables have been the most frequently used variables in these computer simulations. More recently the numerical algorithms based on loop corrective flows have started to receive more attention due to the reduce size of the matrixes involved in the numerical computations, which relies on the loop structure of the water network rather than the nodes. This can improve the numerical properties of the algorithms that model the real-time behaviour of the network. It is shown that such an efficient simulation scheme can be developed in the context of the loop flows algorithms and some problems that appear from doing this are successfully solved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]