Steady State Modeling and Simulation for Liquid Petroleum Gas Pipeline Networks

Liquid petroleum gas (LPG) is a mixture of ethane, propane and heavier hydrocarbons used as a fuel in heating appliances and vehicles. Due to the composition of LPG, phase transitionoccurs easier than gas and oil. Therefore, the running parameters of LPG pipelines are different from those of the gas and liquid pipelines. In order to predict the pressure, flow rate, and temperature within the network, the network is divided into the node, pipeline element, and non-pipe element sub-systems. The mathematical models for each sub-system and the whole network are built. The solution method that unites the network model and physical parameters model is discussed based on the Newton-Raphson method. Finally, the methods are applied to a branching and loop LPG network. The results show the achievements of the paper are valid for steady state simulation of LPG pipeline network.