Hydraulic-Network Simplification

Abstract

This paper illustrates a methodology for the simplification of complicated hydraulic networks. The aim is to create a small hydraulic network that will in certain ways mimic the behavior of a larger network. The approach used is based on nonlinear programming to minimize a measure of the difference between the original and the simplified networks. As an illustration of this technique, a particular example drawn from part of the London distribution network is investigated. We discuss the accuracy that can be obtained by using different numbers of nodes in the simplified network.