IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i5p1126-d1599332.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stability Analysis and Mitigation of Thermo-Hydraulic Oscillations in Multi-Supplier District Heating Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Pascal Friedrich

    (Technology and Economics of Multimodal Energy Systems Laboratory, Technical University of Darmstadt, Landgraf-Georg-Str. 4, 64283 Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany)

  • Kirill Kuroptev

    (Energy Information Networks & Systems Laboratory, Technical University of Darmstadt, Landgraf-Georg-Str. 4, 64283 Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany)

  • Thanh Huynh

    (Siemens AG, Schuckerstr. 2, 91058 Erlangen, Bayern, Germany)

  • Stefan Niessen

    (Technology and Economics of Multimodal Energy Systems Laboratory, Technical University of Darmstadt, Landgraf-Georg-Str. 4, 64283 Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
    Siemens AG, Schuckerstr. 2, 91058 Erlangen, Bayern, Germany)

Abstract

In fourth-generation district heating systems (DHSs), the supply temperature of modern heat sources such as heat pumps and waste heat can potentially be reduced by mixing in hot water from combustion-based producers, thereby increasing efficiency and facilitating integration into networks with unrenovated buildings. However, this approach introduces the risk of thermo-hydraulic oscillations driven by mixing dynamics, transport delays, and mass flow adjustments by consumers. These oscillations can increase wear and cost and may potentially lead to system failure. This study addresses the asymptotic stability of multi-supplier DHSs by combining theoretical analysis and practical validation. Through linearization and Laplace transformation, we derive the transfer function of a system with two suppliers. Using pole-zero analysis, we show that transport delay can cause instability. We identify a new control law, demonstrating that persisting oscillations depend on network temperatures and low thermal inertia and enabling stabilization through careful temperature selection, thorough choice of the slack supplier, or installation of buffer tanks. We validate our findings using dynamic simulations of a nonlinear delayed system in Modelica, highlighting the applicability of such systems to real-world DHSs. These results provide actionable insights for designing robust DHSs and mitigating challenges in multi-supplier configurations by relying on thoughtful system design rather than complex control strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Pascal Friedrich & Kirill Kuroptev & Thanh Huynh & Stefan Niessen, 2025. "Stability Analysis and Mitigation of Thermo-Hydraulic Oscillations in Multi-Supplier District Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-23, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:1126-:d:1599332
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/5/1126/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/5/1126/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Licklederer, Thomas & Hamacher, Thomas & Kramer, Michael & Perić, Vedran S., 2021. "Thermohydraulic model of Smart Thermal Grids with bidirectional power flow between prosumers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    2. Lund, Henrik & Werner, Sven & Wiltshire, Robin & Svendsen, Svend & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Hvelplund, Frede & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2014. "4th Generation District Heating (4GDH)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-11.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Haoran & Hou, Juan & Hong, Tianzhen & Nord, Natasa, 2022. "Distinguish between the economic optimal and lowest distribution temperatures for heat-prosumer-based district heating systems with short-term thermal energy storage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    2. Gianni Martinazzoli & Daniele Pasinelli & Adriano Maria Lezzi & Mariagrazia Pilotelli, 2023. "Design of a 5th Generation District Heating Substation Prototype for a Real Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    3. Licklederer, Thomas & Zinsmeister, Daniel & Lukas, Lorenz & Speer, Fabian & Hamacher, Thomas & Perić, Vedran S., 2024. "Control of bidirectional prosumer substations in smart thermal grids: A weighted proportional-integral control approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 354(PA).
    4. Michael Mans & Tobias Blacha & Thomas Schreiber & Dirk Müller, 2022. "Development and Application of an Open-Source Framework for Automated Thermal Network Generation and Simulations in Modelica," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-25, June.
    5. De Jaeger, Ina & Reynders, Glenn & Ma, Yixiao & Saelens, Dirk, 2018. "Impact of building geometry description within district energy simulations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1060-1069.
    6. F. Marta L. Di Lascio & Andrea Menapace & Roberta Pappadà, 2024. "A spatially‐weighted AMH copula‐based dissimilarity measure for clustering variables: An application to urban thermal efficiency," Environmetrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), February.
    7. Dominković, D.F. & Bačeković, I. & Sveinbjörnsson, D. & Pedersen, A.S. & Krajačić, G., 2017. "On the way towards smart energy supply in cities: The impact of interconnecting geographically distributed district heating grids on the energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 941-960.
    8. Sayegh, M.A. & Danielewicz, J. & Nannou, T. & Miniewicz, M. & Jadwiszczak, P. & Piekarska, K. & Jouhara, H., 2017. "Trends of European research and development in district heating technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1183-1192.
    9. Doračić, Borna & Pukšec, Tomislav & Schneider, Daniel Rolph & Duić, Neven, 2020. "The effect of different parameters of the excess heat source on the levelized cost of excess heat," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    10. Persson, Urban & Wiechers, Eva & Möller, Bernd & Werner, Sven, 2019. "Heat Roadmap Europe: Heat distribution costs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 604-622.
    11. Guo, Yurun & Wang, Shugang & Wang, Jihong & Zhang, Tengfei & Ma, Zhenjun & Jiang, Shuang, 2024. "Key district heating technologies for building energy flexibility: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PB).
    12. Collins, Seán & Deane, J.P. & Ó Gallachóir, Brian, 2017. "Adding value to EU energy policy analysis using a multi-model approach with an EU-28 electricity dispatch model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 433-447.
    13. Østergaard, Poul Alberg & Werner, Sven & Dyrelund, Anders & Lund, Henrik & Arabkoohsar, Ahmad & Sorknæs, Peter & Gudmundsson, Oddgeir & Thorsen, Jan Eric & Mathiesen, Brian Vad, 2022. "The four generations of district cooling - A categorization of the development in district cooling from origin to future prospect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    14. Guelpa, Elisa & Bischi, Aldo & Verda, Vittorio & Chertkov, Michael & Lund, Henrik, 2019. "Towards future infrastructures for sustainable multi-energy systems: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 2-21.
    15. Cai, Hanmin & You, Shi & Wu, Jianzhong, 2020. "Agent-based distributed demand response in district heating systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    16. Hinker, Jonas & Hemkendreis, Christian & Drewing, Emily & März, Steven & Hidalgo Rodríguez, Diego I. & Myrzik, Johanna M.A., 2017. "A novel conceptual model facilitating the derivation of agent-based models for analyzing socio-technical optimality gaps in the energy domain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 1219-1230.
    17. Hemmatabady, Hoofar & Welsch, Bastian & Formhals, Julian & Sass, Ingo, 2022. "AI-based enviro-economic optimization of solar-coupled and standalone geothermal systems for heating and cooling," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    18. Kovacic, Zora & Giampietro, Mario, 2015. "Empty promises or promising futures? The case of smart grids," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 67-74.
    19. Gao, Datong & Zhao, Bin & Kwan, Trevor Hocksun & Hao, Yong & Pei, Gang, 2022. "The spatial and temporal mismatch phenomenon in solar space heating applications: status and solutions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    20. Wirtz, Marco, 2023. "nPro: A web-based planning tool for designing district energy systems and thermal networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:5:p:1126-:d:1599332. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.