Speed up of thermodynamic libraries usage through dynamic spline interpolation

Within the CAPE-OPEN 2021 Annual Meeting, Dr Leonid KORELSTEIN presented (PDF, 890 Kbytes) on current research activities conducted by Piping Systems Research & Engineering Company (PSRE Co) in collaboration with Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (MUCTR).

A live recording of this presentation is available on the CAPE-OPEN Channel at YouTube.

Leonid obtained his Master of Science from Moscow Oil & Gas University and graduated with a PhD in mathematics and mechanics from Ishlinsky Institute for Problems in Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is the Vice-President for Research & Development at PSRE Co, and also Product manager of the CAPE part of PASS software (PASS/Hydrosystem piping fluid flow analysis). Leonid is also an Associate Professor in MUCTR (in the department of Computer Science and Computer Aided Design, chaired by Professor Tomash GARTMAN).

Leonid first describes PSRE Co business and especially the PASS/Hydrosystem software developed and distributed by PSRE Co. He then mentions what is the interest in CAPE-OPEN for PSRE, stressing out especially what pertains to the Hydrodynamic Special Interest Group.

Leonid describes research currently underway on speeding up thermodynamical libraries usage by applying dynamic spline interpolation. Calculations on-the-fly of thermodynamic properties may easily represent 90% of the CPU time during hydrodynamic calculations. The need to decrease the number of calls made is therefore evident. Using dynamic interpolation it appears possible to retain the necessary accuracy while manipulating at most 1000 points instead of 1000 times more.

Maria SKRIPACHENKO is the main contributor to this research within her studies towards a PhD at MUCTR under the supervision of Professor Tomash GARTMAN. Both are co-authors of this presentation.

Tests have been made on properties of pure compounds, with different types of grids and different interpolation techniques. The results appear promising but more work is necessary especially around the critical point.

By decreasing the number of calls to thermodynamic libraries within applications such as PASS, it opens additional perspectives for use of 3rd party CAPE OPEN Property Packages in PASS. The issue PSRE/MUCTR are aiming to solve is rather general and, while solutions have not been published, several software vendors have implemented their own solutions. PSRE/MUCTR want to develop a universal approach and publish on it.

As a side note, PSRE sees a real opportunity in COBIA middleware for implementing a CAPE-OPEN thermodynamic socket in PASS.