An Observer for Pipeline Flow with Hydrogen Blending in Gas Networks: Exponential Synchronization

SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Volume 62, Issue 4, Page 2273-2296, August 2024.
Abstract. We consider a state estimation problem for gas flows in pipeline networks where hydrogen is blended into the natural gas. The flow is modeled by the quasi-linear isothermal Euler equations coupled to an advection equation on a graph. The flow through the vertices where the pipes are connected is governed by algebraic node conditions. The state is approximated by an observer system that uses nodal measurements. We prove that the state of the observer system converges to the original system state exponentially fast in the [math]-norm if the measurements are exact. If measurement errors are present we show that the observer state approximates the original system state up to an error that is proportional to the maximal measurement error. The proof of the synchronization result uses Lyapunov functions with exponential weights.