Transmission System Steady State and Dynamic Simulation

Welcome to the first gas networks tutorial. This tutorial is aimed to provide new users with the basic knowledge in their journey to become expert users of SAInt in fluid modeling. The ideas presented here will assist the user in becoming familiar with the operation of SAInt and the typical workflow while using the software. This series of instructions will use the GUI to leverage SAInt to run a hydraulic simulation of a gas network. In SAInt, these models are referred to as steady state or dynamic scenarios.

Hydraulic simulation means the exercise of solving a set of equations describing a hydraulic system subject to constraints on pressure and flow values in the network, input patterns of demand and supply at the network’s nodes, and user-defined boundary conditions and limitations on facilities. Facilities include pipelines, compressor stations, valves, regulators, resistors, underground storage facilities, and LNG terminals.

In steady state simulations, the evolution in time of the network is not considered, and a general equilibrium condition is assumed. These straightforward simulation exercises are generally used for expansion modeling and long-term planning.

In dynamic simulations, the evolution in time is considered. These are more complex simulation exercises, generally used for operational planning and real-time operations.

This series starts by explaining how to create a gas system in the SAInt environment and run a steady state and a dynamic simulation. The first step is creating a network file and adding lines and nodes to construct the system’s topology in the map window. We focus here on adding facilities to the network and defining their properties. The second step is to add external objects to the nodes, allowing the injection or extraction of gas. We focus here on adding demand and supply facilities and their properties. At this point, the network file is completed, and it is time to create a scenario file. In a steady state simulation, this file includes only events; in a dynamic simulation, it includes events and profiles. Events can control or limit the objects and constraints on the system, while profiles are used to model the dynamic behavior of different object parameters. The final step in the workflow is to execute the simulation and analyze the results.

Time to complete:

Step 1: Create a Gas Network Model [5 Minutes]
Step 2: Expand the Network Topology [20 Minutes]
Step 3: Add External Objects [10 Minutes]
Step 4: Build a Steady State Scenario [5 Minutes]
Step 5: Run the Steady State Simulation [10 Minutes]
Step 6: Build a Dynamic Scenario [15 Minutes]
Step 7: Create Time Profiles for Events in a Dynamic Scenario [10 Minutes]
Step 8: Run a Dynamic Simulation [10 Minutes]
Conclusion[]

The files required for this tutorial are available in the sub-folder .\Gas Networks\Tutorial 1 of the folder Tutorials. Download the tutorials data from the "Model Ready Datasets" category of the community Forum.