Flow control in gas networks: Exact controllability to a given demand

We consider a network of pipelines where the flow is controlled by a number of compressors. The consumer demand is described by desired boundary traces of the system state. We present conditions that guarantee the existence of compressor controls such that after a certain finite time the state at the consumer nodes is equal to the prescribed data. We consider this problem in the framework of continuously differentiable states. We give an explicit construction of the control functions for the control of compressor stations in gas distribution networks. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.