Research on network reliability of district heating systems based on the combined planar network model

The method that heating network reliability is evaluated by the connected reliability is put forward in this paper. According to the determinability of flow direction in certain pipes of heating network, the combined planar network model is built instead of the spatial network model in order to decrease the complexity as solving the connected problems. Using the Boolean calculation, the spanning tree set from heat source to all heat users is solved by the minimal path sets indirectly. Then the connected reliability of heat users and heat source are finally figured out. The application of the connected reliability in the research on network reliability of district heating systems is discussed at last.