Energy Systems Modelling Assignment

The overall aim of this coursework is to provide the student to an opportunity to display a comprehension of the material presented during the module, and demonstrate the student has acquired a sufficient level critical thinking and analysis to justify the selection, use and evaluation of modelling methods suitable for energy systems.

This assessment has two parts:

Part 1: Literature comparison, 50 marks

Part 2: Model development, 50 marks

Overall, you should produce:

Maximum 6 page report (not including references) for Part 1

A MATLAB file and a README file (maximum 5 pages) for Part 2

You should use single spacing and font no smaller than Arial 11; max page number excludes cover, table of content and references

DEADLINE 11pm BST 14th May 2025

Submit your coursework via Canvas.

What needs to be done for each Part is described in the pages below:

Title of Part 1: mini-literature review of energy storage in district heat networks

The topic for Part 1 is to carry out a short, critical literature review on energy storage within district heating systems. The study should review at least 5 studies of energy storage within district heating systems. For each study you should include (1) a description of the network considered, (2) a description of the study aims and objectives, (3) a description of the modelling/simulation/analytical process and (4) the main conclusions of the study.

Based on your review of the 5 studies, you should then reflect on whether the government should fund the development of district heating systems in the UK.

District heat networks (DHN) are networks of pipes that supply heat to multiple buildings from centralised heat generation plants. Instead of each building relying on its own boiler, the buildings are supplied heat via fluid transferred in insulated pipes, typically delivering hot water or steam. The heat can be produced from various sources, including power plants, renewable energy sources (concentrated solar, biomass or geothermal plants) or waste heat from industrial processes. At each building, a heat exchanger is used to transfer heat from the district heating system to the local building heating system.

Figure 1: Components in a typical district heat network. REF: Mazhar, Abdur

Rehman, Shuli Liu, and Ashish Shukla. "A state of art review on the district heating

systems." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 96 (2018): 420-439.

For Part 1 you should search the literature, find relevant studies on modelling of DHN and review them. Your review should consider published works focusing on modelling and simulations of DHN including an energy storage component.

References are essential.

Suggested literature sources:

• Peer review scientific publications (from sciencedirect.com, scopus.com, google scholar, accessible through university log-in details)

• Grey literature such as technical reports from energy agencies, associations etc.

• NOTE: You should have at least 5 references, though I would expect a good report to have more to demonstrate reading around the subject.

The suggested structure of Part 1 of coursework is (max 6 pages):

Part 1: Title: mini-literature review of energy storage in district heat networks

Short summary: Within one or two paragraphs summarise your study, including the key conclusions.

Section 1: Introduction and description of heat networks. Describe the typical

features of a DHN and the principle of operation. Why are they are used and what are the alternatives?

Section 2: Literature review of five studies looking at energy storage within DHNs: Briefly explain the studies, including their motivation, aims, modelling process

including any key assumptions and conclusions.

Section 3: Discussion. Critically reflect on the studies you have examined in

section 2. You may wish to compare the studies or add in further references to the literature in the area here. Were the results of the studies similar? If so or if not,

why? Are there common assumptions or key modelling parameters? etc.

Section 4: Should DHN be more widely adopted in the UK? Based on your

literature review, you should reflect on the prospect of further DHN development in the UK.

Section 5: References.

The marks allocated to Part 1 of the report are 50, and are proportionally distributed:

• Section 1: 15%

• Section 2: 40%

• Section 3: 15%

• Section 4: 20%

• Section 5: 5%

• Format/layout of report: 5%

Title of Part 2: Modelling of a DHN

The aim of Part 2 is to develop MATLAB model of a DHN on part of the University of Birmingham’s campus. The area in question is shown in Figure 2a. The structure of the network is shown in Figure 2b.

Figure 2: UoB hypothetical DHN. (A) Illustrating the DHN on the campus map.

(B) Showing the enumeration for the nodes and branches of the network.

Information about the network is shown in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1: Information about the network branches

Table 2: Information about the network nodes

Your task is to develop a MATLAB model which solves the mass balance, momentum balance and energy balance for the network. You should therefore be able to complete the tables above for the mass flow rates for each branch and the   pressures and temperatures for each of the nodes (i.e. completing Tables 1 and 2).

Your submission should consist of a MATLAB simulation file (a .m file) and a README file pdf (no more than 5 pages).

• The MATLAB file should calculate the branch flowrates and the node pressures and temperatures. You should plot a chart of the flowrate of each branch and the pressures and temperatures at each node. You may wish to also plot other  graphs, for example, to justify assumptions.

• The README file is to detail the mathematics and rationale of your approach.

Marks will be awarded for how well the simulation is coded and how easy the code is to understand. Therefore, you are strongly advised to use comments to explain your code and link to the README file.

Suggestions

• Tutorial 2 will be very helpful!

• Comments in the code are crucial.

• You will need to make some assumptions regarding pipe parameters and some other parameters. Make sure you explain what these are and justify them.

• Imagine you are writing the code and the README file to illustrate both the approach and the results to a fellow engineer. You may wish to refer to the  README file in the code comments.

The marks allocated to Part 2 of the report are 50, and are proportionally distributed:

•   Code functionality (including the appropriateness of engineering judgements): 50%

• Code readability (including README file): 50%