LAUSR

District heating networks (DHNs) are essential municipal infrastructure in the north of China. Obtaining accurate resistance characteristics is a critical step to improve the operating regulation level of DHNs. In this paper, pipe hydraulic resistances (PHRs) are introduced to express the resistance characteristics. A hydraulic model of a DHN can be established by using observed data of pressures and discharges. The boundary nodes are taken as observed sites. After establishing a matrix equation and analyzing the rank of its coefficient matrix, the authors propose a method to determine all the PHRs uniquely, by using a small number of observed sites and operating conditions. Furthermore, when observed errors are introduced, the adverse impact can be weakened by increasing the number of operating conditions and the accuracy of observed devices. When the observed error ranges are 1% and 0.5%, the results show that the average relative errors of identified PHRs are 2.4% and 1.1% respectively, which can be acceptable in engineering. Then, a loop DHN can be transformed into several branch DHNs, which are identified individually.