Dynamic modeling and solution algorithm of the evaporation system for the ultra-supercritical power plant

The evaporation system of the ultra-supercritical power plant is characterized with a once-through steam generator. Modeling of such evaporation system is of extreme importance for the purpose of efficiency assessment and operation optimization. There still exist some major problems in the modeling because of the complexity of the phase transitions in the evaporation system at different loads. This paper establishes a moving segment model (including subcooled water, saturated two-phase and superheated steam segments) based on the mass and energy conservation principles under the subcritical and supercritical working conditions, and proposes a solution algorithm to deal with working condition switching in an automatic mode. Pseudo-online simulations are performed to test the model and the algorithm by using the geometric parameters and the history operation data of a real ultra-supercritical unit in China. The calculated heat absorption rate of the working fluid from the entire evaporation system agrees well with the reference value. The maximum absolute relative error is found as small as 0.54% in the time resolution of 30 min, which indirectly demonstrates the feasibility and accuracy of the presented model and the solution algorithm.