7.

NON INTERACTING LIQUID LEVEL SYSTEM

Objective:

Study the non-interaction system response for a step change

Theory:

Consider a non-interacting system of tanks in which outlet from tank (1) discharges directly into
the atmosphere before flowing into tank (2). Due to this arrangement the outlet flow q1(t)
through R1 depends only on level h1 in the first tank and NOT on change in level h2 in the
second tank. The variation in h2 in tank 2 does NOT affect the transient response occurring in
tank 1. This type of system is referred to as a non-interacting system.

Fig. 1 Two tank liquid level system (Non – interacting)

Assuming liquid to be of constant density, the tanks to have uniform cross sectional area
and the flow resistance to be linear.

The flow-head relationship for the two linear resistances are given by the expression.
 h1
q1 = −−−−−−−−−−−(1)
R1
h
q 2= 2 −−−−−−−−−−−(2 )
R2

A material balance on tank 1 gives

dh 1
q 0−q 1= A 1 −−−−−−−−−−−−(1)
dt 1

A material balance on tank 2 gives

dh2
q1 −q 2 =A 2 −−−−−−−−−−−( 2)
dt 2

Modeling Equations:

dh1 h1
A1 =q 0−
dt R1
dh2 h 1 h 2
A2 = −
dt R1 R2

Data:

A1=1 ft2 A2=10 ft2 R1=0.1 ft / (ft3/min) R2=0.35 ft / (ft3/min)

h1 = 2 ft h2 = 7ft q0=50 ft3/min

MATLAB - Program

%%step change in inlet flow rate from 20 to 50 ft3/min

PART-A [Function file]

function dhdt =noninteracting(t,h)

global R1, R2, q0

dhdt=zeros(2,1);

dhdt(1)=q0-h(1)/R1;

dhdt(2)=h(1)/R1-h(2)/R2;

PART-B [Solver file]

global R1 R2 q0

R1=0.1; R2=0.35;

q0=50; h0(1)=2; h0(2)=7; tf=2;

for loop=1:0.5:50

time=(0.02*loop*tf);

[t,h]=ode15s('noninteracting',[0 time],[h0(1) h0(2)]);

H1=h(:,1);

H2=h(:,2);

figure(1);

plot(t,h(:,1),'-r*')

hold on;

plot(t,h(:,2),'-b*')

xlabel('time'), ylabel('Heights H1 & H2');

hold off;

end
 INTERACTING LIQUID LEVEL SYSTEM
Objective:

To study the interacting system response for a step change

Theory:

Consider a two tank interacting liquid level system shown in Fig. in which outlet from tank (1)
directly connected to the inlet of the tank (2). Due to this arrangement the outlet flow q1 (t)
through R depends on levels of h1 & h2. Thus dynamic response of tank (1) is affected by the
level in the tank (2). The term interacting is often referred to as loading. The second tank of fig.

q0
1 is said to load the first tank.
1
2

h 1−h 2
q1 = −−−−−−−−−−−(1)
R1
h
q2

q 2= 2 −−−−−−−−−−−(2 )
R2

A material balance on tank 1 gives

dh1
q 0 −q 1= A 1 −−−−−−−−−−−−(3 )
dt 1

A material balance on tank 2 gives

dh2
q1 −q 2 =A 2 −−−−−−−−−−−( 4 )
dt 2
Data:

A1= 1 A2= 10 R1= 0.1 R2= 0.35 h1= 2, h2 = 7

q0 = 50

Mat lab program

a1=1;a2=10;r1=0.1;r2=0.35;j=1;h1=2;h2=7;

H1(j)=h1;H2(j)=h2;time(j)=0;

dh1=0;dh2=0;t=0;

delta=0.1; q=50.0;

display(' Height(H1) Height(H2) ');

fprintf('%d\t%d\t%d\n',time,h1,h2);

for i=0:delta:30

dh1=(q/a1)-((h1-h2)/(r1*a1));

dh2=((h1-h2)/(r1*a2))-(h2/(r2*a2));

h1=h1+(delta*dh1);

h2=h2+(delta*dh2);

t=t+delta;

j=j+1;

H1(j)=h1;

H2(j)=h2;

time(j)=t;

fprintf('%d\t%d\t\t%d\n',time,h1,h2);

end

plot(time,H1,'o',time,H2,'g');
legend('height(H1)','Height(H2)');

xlabel('time(sec)')

ylabel('Height-H1 and Height-H2');

title('Interacting Liquid level system');