ABSTRACT
As suggested by V. D. Dimitriadis and E. N. Pistikopoulos, the operational flexibility of a dynamic system should be evaluated differently. By adopting a system of differential algebraic equations (DAEs) as the model constraints, these authors developed a mathematical programming formulation for dynamic flexibility analysis. This chapter explains that the time-dependent range of an uncertain parameter is often extracted directly from historical data without elaborate statistical interpretations. However, the cumulated quantities of these parameters over time may also be recorded, and these available data are in general neglected in the dynamic flexibility analysis. An obvious solution approach for computing the dynamic flexibility index is to first convert the nonlinear DAEs into a system of algebraic equations by a credible numerical discretization technique. Although many equally effective techniques are available, only two of them, the differential quadrature (DQ) and the trapezoidal rule (TR), are provided in the sequel to facilitate clear explanation.
