Steam Cycle Simulator for CHP Plants

This paper describes a methodology to set up steam cycle simulators for CHP plants. The adopted approach consists in a simultaneous solution of modules representing plant components taking their actual behavior into account. Models are characterized by Reality Functions to adapt them to the reality of machines and apparatuses so that the New&Clean map of the real component can be established. Furthermore, to account for deterioration phenomena occurring during plant operations, Actuality Functions affecting component performance in terms of work and heat transfer, losses and effective flow functions have been introduced. Models have been validated and tested against real CHP plant data. Applications to different kinds of CHP steam cycles are presented and discussed. Results show a good simulator capability to estimate component deterioration status and to reproduce the plant actual behavior