Patent Document ID: 9261869
Application ID: 13372252
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A simulation system for simulating the operation of a process network having a set of physical plant elements through which mass flows, the process network including a plurality of process nodes including a multiplicity of junction nodes and one or more non-junction nodes that form different sub-sets of the plurality of process nodes in the process network, the system comprising: a computer device including a processor and a computer readable memory; a definition of the process network stored on the computer readable memory, the definition of the process network including the plurality of process nodes associated with the process network at which pressures or flows are to be determined in a simulation, wherein two or more of the process nodes are the junction nodes at which flow within the process network converges or diverges, and one or more of the process nodes are the non-junction nodes associated with process elements within the process network; and a simulation routine stored on the computer readable memory that executes on the processor to determine the pressures and flows at each of the plurality of process nodes of the process network during each of a multiplicity of simulation cycles, the simulation routine including: a first routine stored on the computer readable memory that executes on the processor to solve a set of simultaneous equations expressing a pressure/flow relationship to determine the pressure at each of the two or more junction nodes without determining the pressure at each of the one or more non-junction nodes and to determine the flow within each of a set of flow paths between the two or more junction nodes during each of the multiplicity of simulation cycles; and a second routine stored on the computer readable memory that executes on the processor after the first routine to determine pressures at each of the one or more non-junction nodes based on the pressures at each of the two or more junction nodes determined in the first routine and the flows within the flow paths between the two or more junction nodes determined in the first routine during each of the multiplicity of simulation cycles.