Synergi Gas – Modules overview and

workshop
Mike Murtha, DNV GL –
Product Manager, Pipeline Products

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Agenda

 Initial Setup
 Model Builder
 Customer Management Module (CMM)
 Area Isolation Module (AIM)
 Facilities Management Module (FMM)
 Summary of other modules

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Initial Setup

Synergi uses initialization files to predefine units (Metric, SI, or US Standard) and
other features. Since we do not know if this was done for your own preference, or
for the demonstration we’ve going to undertake, let’s all do the following:

1. Start Synergi Gas.

2. At the Opening Assistant,
choose Create a New Model.
3. Be sure to pick the workspace
and warehouse names your
presenter specifies.
4. Click the Licenses button, and
turn OFF Liquid Steady State
and Multiphase licenses (if
applicable)

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Initial Setup – Making sure we’re all on the same page

4. From the main Synergi menu, choose

Edit>Unit Favorites.
5. Choose Metric.
6. Click the Edit icon (red arrow).
7. On the Flows tab, set your gas flow rate to
standard cubic meters per hour.
8. On the General tab, set your length to
meters, Pressure to Kilopascals, Time to
hours.
9. Click OK, and then on the Unit Favorites
panel, click Apply to Model, then Close.

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Synergi’s Model Builder Module

The Model Builder module is a software tool that provides a seamless integration
between Synergi Gas and your geospatial information system (GIS) data. Its data
management capability allows you to import data from a variety of external
sources, including shape files, CAD files and ArcInfo coverages, as well as personal
and enterprise ArcGIS geodatabases.
What it does
 Streamlines time required to build your Synergi Gas models, with automated
processes for efficient model maintenance and revision
 Converts GIS point data, such as valves and regulators, into linear, non-pipe
facilities
 Imports multiple pipe and facility source model layers simultaneously
 Maps source file attributes to Synergi Gas facility data and supplements
incomplete GIS attributes with your model data
 Allows you to save your imported model attributes and configurations to rebuild
your model whenever you choose

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Synergi’s Model Builder Module

From the main Synergi menu,

select File>Import>Model
Builder>Conversion

Now, it’s Follow the Wizard.

Not much to see here, so let’s

move along.

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Synergi’s Model Builder Module
From the main Synergi menu, select File>Import>Model Builder>Conversion

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Synergi’s Model Builder Module
A confirmation panel, this lets you
know what data you’re bringing in
from the Model Build process.

Here we see we’re getting Isolation

Valves, Pipes, Regulator Stations,
and Sources.

Click Next to move along.

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Synergi’s Model Builder Module
Supplemental data lets you pick data
from another model.

Here, we are picking Regulator and

Regulator Stations.

In your cases, you can bring in

common data, like polygons, labels,
profiles, and the like from an existing
model, saving time and effort.

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Synergi’s Model Builder Module
Final confirmation, lets you save
the conversion and configuration
files in case you’ve changed
anything.

Click Next to get this running.

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Done
And that is what Model
Builder does.
You just created a
model with 878 pipes
and 8 regulator
stations.
In practice there will be
some clean-up
required.

Of course, there are no

DEMANDS on the model
yet. We’ll do those
next!

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Customer Management
The Customer Management module is a software tool that provides a link between
Synergi Gas and your customer information system (CIS) and establishes a
relationship between weather, individual customer load and customer location.

What you get

 Assigns customer location automatically using coordinate location, service
address, manual assignment or other sources such as a geospatial information
system (GIS) where available
 Identifies proper main when multiple mains are in close proximity to a customer
coordinate
 Considers pressure codes, diameter or pipe material during the customer
assignment process
 Scheduling function defines multiple assignment passes, enabling you to quickly
review a list of customers that were assigned during each pass
 Calculates weather-dependent loading for each customer

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Customer Management
We’re not going to RUN CMM here, there’s not much to see. But essentially…
 Correlates gas consumption to some variables (temperature, time of year, time
of day, etc.)
 For each customer a Base Demand and Heating Dependent Factor is calculated.
 These are then loaded by Synergi, as we’ll see next.

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Load Your Model

1. From the main Synergi menu, choose

File>Import>Demands File.
2. It’s wizard time again!

The ‘Options’ on panel 2 let you control if

these are totally new demands being
considered, of if they are cumulative with
whatever are already in the system.

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Loading

You might see this (3) – if so, ignore it,

it’s a temporary problem with this
particular installation, not Synergi itself.

Panel 4 lets you scope the demands to

any of these model subsets. Here we’re
going for ‘Entire Model’.

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More Loading

Panel 5 is, largely, “more scoping stuff” – note you can have demands on nodes
AND/OR on pipes. Here, we’ve picked pipes.

6 shows you the data it’s read. You’re almost done now.

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Load Discussion

If you’re not using the wizard, here at #7 you’d

be prompted to input an equation.

Consider this case – the loading data are in

Base Loads, and then Heat dependent loads,
which are typically expressed in
volume/degree-day.

This example was initially set up in U.S. units, so a the degree-day we used
was set accordingly. When you set in demands you typically use a multiplier
(45 is shown, which is 45 degree-days in US units, or an ambient of 15
degrees F (-9.4 deg.C))

Obviously, this setup is also something we help our clients do.

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Area Isolation – The Other Kind of Valves
 Everybody knows what regulators, or pressure governors, are used for in gas
distribution systems.
 Everybody also knows that gas systems have valves that are used to:
– Direct flow in particular directions
– Prevent backflow (check valves)
– Mimic pressure losses (orifice plates, for example)
– Isolate manageable areas of the system in case of emergency.
 Nobody (almost) models all the valves in a system – there can be huge numbers
of them, and in the world of distribution they have almost no hydraulic effect
when just open. But almost every block or two in a distribution system might
have several valves.

But wouldn’t it be really, really useful if we could include those valves so that
in the event of an emergency we’d know which ones to close? And maybe
what would happen to the rest of the system? And maybe what customers
would be impacted?

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About Area Isolation Module
The Area Isolation module is the software tool you need to simulate the isolation of
user-selected areas of a gas network for emergency planning, maintenance or other
operational needs.

 Enables analysis on the effect of area isolation on remaining network pressure

and flow
 Useful in planning future system outages or determining what happens when an
emergency valve is closed
 Works within the Synergi Gas user-friendly interface

The Synergi Gas Area Isolation module provides you with the tools you need to
simulate the isolation of user-selected areas of a gas network for emergency
planning, maintenance or other operational needs. The Area Isolation module also
enables you to analyse and create detailed reports on the effect of area isolation on
remaining network pressure and flow.

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Using Area Isolation
1. When you used the Model Builder, we set it up
so that isolation valves would also be brought
in.
2. From Synergi’s main menu, select
Map>Display Settings.
3. At the Display Settings checkboxes, check on
Isolation Point Symbols.
4. Click OK.

Next, we’ll set up a quick AIM analysis.

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Setting up Area Isolation

Most companies think of isolation valves in terms of the granularity of their use. In
a single area you might have one main shut off valve. Then there might be more in
street vaults. Generally they are named based on some form of hierarchy, like:

 Emergency
 Essential
 Regulator Inlets
 Pinch
The user then provides a schedule of which groups to use. We’re going to keep it
real simple, and do one and only one.

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Set it up
1. On the main Synergi
menu, in the Model
Data tab, you’ll find
Area Isolation.
2. Under Points, find
Isolation Valves.
3. Click on that, and
Synergi will open the
view of all the
valves.
4. Now look at
Categories, note that
there is also a
category, by default
(weird name).

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Soldering on

5. In the same menu tree, now click on

Schedules. The list, below, will display, and
there will be nothing in it.
6. Use your mouse and hover in the area where
we’ve put the green color. Right mouse click,
and from the pop-up select New Isolation
Schedule.
7. Give it some name, like we show here, click
OK. Now, it gets a LITTLE tricky. Click in
that green area again, and Right Mouse Click.
You should see a pop-up that says “Add to
Isolation Schedule”. Click it, and you’ll see
the Category from before in your schedule.
8. Make sure it’s active. (see arrow to the right)

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Doing an Isolation

1. The model must be solved for this to work, so solve the steady-state.
2. Let’s ‘trace’ the model. From the Synergi menu, choose Tools>Area
Isolation>Trace Isolation Areas.
3. Two interesting things should have just happened. Very quickly. At the bottom of
your Synergi screen the ‘Traced’ light just came on, and the isolation valves on
your screen just changed colours.
4. Zoom into the area we’ve shown:

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Doing an Isolation

 Remember that we just talked about the Customer Management Module?

 One of the things it does is create a customer/node (or, in this case, pipe)
database, that you can use for any number of things, and one of them is…

AREA ISOLATION!
From the Synergi menu issue the command Tools>Customer Assignment>Open
Customer Assignment Database.

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 Let’s finish…
Logically – if the pipe is damaged
at the location of the arrow, then
the nearest isolation valve will
close to shut this part of the
system off. Let’s try it…

1. From the Synergi menu, select Tools>Area Isolation>Highlight Facilities.

2. Point to the pipe indicated above, and left click.
3. The facilities in the isolation area will turn yellow, showing what has been
selected.

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 Remember that we just reminded you
about the customer management module?

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Finally

 In a case like this one there’s no real hydraulic need to do the actual isolation, we
picked an area at the end of the line.
 If we’d picked one in the middle, AIM would have identified any “subordinate”
areas and removed them, too.
 And we’d want to do an EXTRACTION of the area, followed by a solution, to
validate that the system could meet remaining demands with the one area (plus
dependents) removed from the piping.

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Facilities Management

The Facilities Management Module is a software tool that allows you to synchronize
your gas distribution network models with GIS updates without rebuilding your
model and losing valuable hydraulic data. You can review changes spatially and
selectively accept or reject individual or groups of changes to merge into the
model.
What you get
 Flexibility when comparing models
 Highly specified comparisons
 Streamlined maintenance tasks
 Spatial detection functionality groups adjacent changes together
 With the Facilities Management module you can
 Perform routine Synergi Gas functions ( such as adding, deleting, modifying
nodes or running hydraulic lyses) while using Facilities Management Module
 Synchronize updates into a model
 Evaluate the impact of recent GIS updates to your Synergi Gas model

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A simple example

There are 4 differences between these

2 models. Yet model 1 has a
minimum pressure a bit over 10 kPa
less than model 2. Find the
differences.

Hints: No regulators. 3 fixed

pressure sources, and they’re the
same.

Hints didn’t help much, did they?

Let’s try FMM.

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FMM
1. Open Synergi, then open FMM Model 1.
2. From the Synergi main menu, select Tools>Compare and Synchronize. You’ll be
prompted for the models that you want to compare. Browse to find FMM Model
2.

3. Click the Compare button.

4. You’ll now be prompted for compare parameters. Choose pipe (since there are
only pipes), from-node, to-node, vertices on the left, and

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And?
The description, diameter, and length on the
Facility Attributes tab, and Add, Delete, and
Modify from the Options tab.

5. Click the OK button, then the Compare

button.

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Oooh. Shiny. Tell me more.

You can double-click on each for details…

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Details
Pretty tricky of me – this pipe I changed the
pipe from an 81mm ID specified to a 90mm
OD x 4.5mm wall thickness…

Other FMM functions let you review

changes and accept them or reject
them – letting you synchronize model
versions much more easily.

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Summary of other
Synergi Gas Modules

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Regulator Station Module

 Regulator station and relief valve modeling

 Identify and correct insufficient overpressure protection or flow restrictions
 Stores data for regulators, valves and station piping
 Generate station inspection reports to keep your company in compliance

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Time Varying

 Synergi Gas’s Time-Varying Module (TVM)

allows you to perform a series of
consecutive steady-state analyses to
simulate the changes in your network over
time. Model your system over days, weeks,
months or years to determine:
 System adequacy to meet anticipated
requirements.
 Compressor fuel requirements over an
extended period of time.
 Storage well or field injection and
withdrawal requirements and schedules.
 System behaviour based on starting
conditions.

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Unsteady State

 Network design and operation

 Pressure surge prediction
 System survival time
 Line pack management
 Blow-down calculations
 Line break (gas loss) calculations
 Relief valve sizing
 System peak day operating studies
 Compressor fuel reduction

Just about anything involving time!

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Attune

 SCADA: interface for profile building

 STATE: for system state finding
 For use in unsteady state analysis

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Optimization

The optimization engine considers the details of your system, including:

 Compressor operating envelopes.
 Compressor discharge temperatures.
 Minimum and maximum delivery pressures.
 Maximum allowable operating pressure.
 Regulator set points.
 Receipt and delivery volumes.

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Automated Design

 Assists in determining the lowest-diameter sizes that still allow

uniform flow velocity in a gas piping system.
 Allows evaluation of pipe sizing alternatives for a model, given
loading conditions, location and cost per unit length.
 The network designed using
ADM must be a single-pressure
level network with known
source locations and known
source pressures.

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Leakage Minimization

 Assists with optimizing supply node pressures.

Seeks to achieve a minimum level of system
leakage while remaining within network
operating constraints.
 This module is aimed at distribution networks
single Pressure Level systems
Leakage minimization report summarizes:
 Leakage per pipe
 Average pressure per pipe
Total leakage for the network
 Average system pressure for the network

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Cost of Service

The primary function of Cost of Service is

to report the costs associated with the
nodes and facilities in your model.
COS takes associated information from the
CAP file and relates it to the nodes and
facilities. Using the flow and concentration,
it provides investment reports, including:
 Node cost trace report.
 Facility cost trace report.
 Node supply trace report.
 Node stub report.

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