Diagnosis of a Pipeline System for Transient Flow in Low Reynolds Number with Impedance Method

Abstract

This study explores the comprehensive calibration potential of impedance-based methods implementing several unsteady friction models for a pipeline system with or without leakage. The corresponding response functions in the frequency domain approach have been derived by the impulse response method and incorporated into the genetic algorithm-based calibration method. Unsteady models addressed either frequency-dependent friction or acceleration-based frictions. Parameter calibration exercises with experimental data have shown that the impedance-based approach provides a versatile and feasible optimization framework via the fitting of an objective function based on the predicted and measured pressure head variation. To check the impact of pressure pulsation and noise, extended calibration tests were performed using oscillated and disturbed pressure data bounded by the frequency and amplitude of a pump system and the measurement error of a conventional pressure transducer. The performance of the integrated optimization examples demonstrates the robustness of the impedance-based approach, both in the representation of a real-life system and the configuration of various system characteristics.