Abstract
Understanding and predicting sonic choking in pipe network systems can be critically important. Among the reasons is to ensure safety and to improve the performance of the system. In some cases, sonic choking is the dominant aspect of the system behavior and there is no way to understand the system without understanding sonic choking and where it occurs. However, sonic choking is (in general) poorly understood and (at best) incompletely documented in the literature. The literature often provides misleading examples built on unstated (and unrealistic) assumptions. Some situations where sonic choking occurs are almost completely ignored in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive reference for practicing engineers for all possible sonic choking behavior in any generalized, pipe network system with superheated, steady-state, single-phase gas flow. Discussions include multiple choking points in series and in parallel, as well as in systems with real gas behavior experiencing heat transfer in non-horizontal pipes.
