Abstract
A new method of estimating wave speed in a pipe is proposed. A continuity equation of pipe flow can be arranged so that wave speed is included in a coefficient term which relates differentiation of pressure with respect to time and differentiation of flow rate with respect to distance along a pipe axis. The wave speed will be calculated from the differentiation signals using a pipeline dynamics model, which is an optimized finite element model. Bootstrap algorithms are applied to estimation of wave speed included in the coefficient. Both simulation and experiment are carried out to examine the estimation method. The influence of experimental conditions and calculation parameters on the wave-speed estimation was investigated.
