Run a Smart District Heating Hydraulic and Thermal Study

Use a hydraulic and thermal study when operations need to understand branch imbalance, downstream heat delivery, pipe loss, valve changes, supply-temperature changes, or building response. The project workflow represents the network as a graph and ties every run to a reviewed input version.

Prerequisites

Input	Review owner
Network nodes and edges	Network engineer
Pipe length, diameter, and resistance inputs	Design or operations engineer
Pump, valve, flow, pressure, and temperature state	Control-system owner
Pipe heat-loss and building thermal parameters	Energy or building engineer
Measured baseline and acceptance method	Project engineering reviewer

Model flow

Prepare and calibrate

1. Select a verified branch and a measured baseline period.
2. Bind nodes, edges, sources, pumps, valves, stations, and buildings to stable IDs.
3. Enter or estimate resistance, pipe heat-loss, and building thermal-capacity parameters.
4. Calibrate parameters against approved pressure, flow, temperature, heat, and indoor-temperature history.
5. Review missing sensors, assumed boundaries, and excluded operating modes.
6. Freeze the topology, parameters, source period, and solver version.

Run the comparison

1. Run the baseline and review node continuity, whole-network heat balance, and measurement residuals.
2. Duplicate the accepted baseline.
3. Change one decision package, such as valve settings, supply temperature, pump flow, weather boundary, or equipment availability.
4. Run the comparison with the same result regions and time window.
5. Compare pressure, flow distribution, pipe temperature loss, delivered heat, and building response.
6. Record engineering interpretation and the signals required to verify the recommendation in operation.

Current solver profile

The current network solver supports nonlinear edge resistance, node continuity, flow-weighted temperature mixing, pipe heat loss, heat-delivery response, and steady or transient building thermal response. Each run emits hydraulic and thermal audit evidence.

Project model selection depends on the decision. The current profile assumes a reviewed main flow direction and quasi-static hydraulics. Studies that depend on detailed pipe transport delay, pump curves, multiple heat sources, or flow reversal require an expanded project model and separate acceptance.

Expected output

Output	Review use
Node pressure and edge flow	Identify imbalance, bottlenecks, and changed branch behavior.
Pipe inlet and outlet temperature	Review thermal transport and heat-loss behavior.
Station heat delivery	Compare the effect of source, flow, valve, and exchanger assumptions.
Building or zone temperature response	Assess comfort risk and thermal-inertia timing.
Continuity and heat-balance audit	Confirm numerical and accounting consistency.
Measurement residuals	Judge calibration against observed pressure, temperature, and heat.

Failure handling

Problem	Response
Hydraulic solve does not converge	Check reference pressure, disconnected nodes, resistance values, pump assumptions, and incompatible boundaries.
Heat balance is outside acceptance	Review flow direction, units, losses, source boundaries, and missing branches.
Residuals are high	Revisit sensor quality, topology, parameter calibration, and operating-mode selection.
Scenario changes several unrelated inputs	Split it into controlled scenarios or define one reviewed decision package.
Required behavior exceeds the solver profile	Use an expanded engineering model and document its validation separately.

Related docs

• Prepare Data and Network Topology
• Plan Severe-Weather Scenarios
• Review Dispatch Safety and Evidence