Error analysis and model adaptivity for flows in gas networks

In the simulation and optimization of natural gas flow in a pipeline network, a hierarchy of models is used that employs different formulations of the Euler equations. While the optimization is performed on piecewise linear models, the flow simulation is based on the one to three dimensional Euler equations including the temperature distributions. To decide which model class in the hierarchy is adequate to achieve a desired accuracy, this paper presents an error and perturbation analysis for a two level model hierarchy including the isothermal Euler equations in semilinear form and the stationary Euler equations in purely algebraic form. The focus of the work is on the effect of data uncertainty, discretization, and rounding errors in the numerical simulation of these models and their interaction. Two simple discretization schemes for the semilinear model are compared with respect to their conditioning and temporal stepsizes are determined for which a well-conditioned problem is obtained. The results are based on new componentwise relative condition numbers for the solution of nonlinear systems of equations. More- over, the model error between the semilinear and the algebraic model is computed, the maximum pipeline length is determined for which the algebraic model can be used safely, and a condition is derived for which the isothermal model is adequate.DFG, TRR 154, Mathematische Modellierung, Simulation und Optimierung am Beispiel von Gasnetzwerke

Numerical Analysis

Acknowledgements: This article will appear in the forthcoming Princeton Companion to Mathematics, edited by Timothy Gowers with June Barrow-Green, to be published by Princeton University Press.\ud \ud In preparing this essay I have benefitted from the advice of many colleagues who corrected a number of errors of fact and emphasis. I have not always followed their advice, however, preferring as one friend put it, to "put my head above the parapet". So I must take full responsibility for errors and omissions here.\ud \ud With thanks to: Aurelio Arranz, Alexander Barnett, Carl de Boor, David Bindel, Jean-Marc Blanc, Mike Bochev, Folkmar Bornemann, Richard Brent, Martin Campbell-Kelly, Sam Clark, Tim Davis, Iain Duff, Stan Eisenstat, Don Estep, Janice Giudice, Gene Golub, Nick Gould, Tim Gowers, Anne Greenbaum, Leslie Greengard, Martin Gutknecht, Raphael Hauser, Des Higham, Nick Higham, Ilse Ipsen, Arieh Iserles, David Kincaid, Louis Komzsik, David Knezevic, Dirk Laurie, Randy LeVeque, Bill Morton, John C Nash, Michael Overton, Yoshio Oyanagi, Beresford Parlett, Linda Petzold, Bill Phillips, Mike Powell, Alex Prideaux, Siegfried Rump, Thomas Schmelzer, Thomas Sonar, Hans Stetter, Gil Strang, Endre Süli, Defeng Sun, Mike Sussman, Daniel Szyld, Garry Tee, Dmitry Vasilyev, Andy Wathen, Margaret Wright and Steve Wright