Modeling improvements for leak detection in pipelines of LPG

The fluid behavior in a pipeline of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)-according to the principles of conservation of mass and momentum-is governed by a set of Partial Differential Equations (PDE). In this work, such equations are modified with the inclusion of an unsteady friction model and approximated using the Finite Difference Method. As a result of this approximation, a model is obtained and subsequently used for the design of a high gain observer to locate leaks in a pipeline. Some results based on real data are exposed to demonstrate the repercussions of the proposed modifications in tasks of leak detection.