Patent Document ID: 20130211601
Application ID: 13372252
Patent Flag: 0

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, comprising: a computer device including a processor and a computer readable memory; a definition of a process network stored on the computer readable memory, the definition of the process network including a 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 junction nodes at which flow within the process network converges or diverges, and one or more of the process nodes are 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 junction nodes without determining the pressure at each of the non-junction nodes and to determine the flow within each of a set of flow paths between the 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 to determine pressures at each of the non-junction nodes based on the pressures determined for the junction nodes and the flows within the flow paths during each of the multiplicity of simulation cycles.