Dynamic modeling of steam power cycles.: Part I—Modeling paradigm and validation

Work related to the dynamic simulation of the steam cycle of power plants is presented in two parts. In this paper, a dynamic modeling software for energy systems called SimECS, which is currently under development at the Delft University of Technology, is described and validated. SimECS follows a modular, hierarchical and causal paradigm, e.g., systems are formed by components which in turn are formed by modules with predefined causal interactions. A description of various available modules is presented in the first part of this work, while a description of the components forming a steam cycle is given in the second part. The equations implemented in the modules follow from physical relations and conservation laws in the lumped parameters form. Bilateral coupling in combination with the causality principle are applied to obtain a solving system of algebraic and differential equations (DAEs) characterized by a low index. The concepts and their implementation into software are validated by comparison with measured data coming from a laboratory scale steam cycle setup (evaporating section of a waste heat recovery boiler with a power scaling factor of 1:600). This setup was built and operated at the Department of Electronics and IT of the Politecnico di Milano and experimental data are made publicly available on the internet. Both steady state and dynamic experiments are used for validation and simulation results show satisfying agreement with the experiments.