Title: Multiobjective Dynamic Optimization for Optimal Load-Following of Natural Gas Combined Cycle Power Plants under Stress Constraints

Abstract

With the increasing penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources into the electric grid, there is an associated need for conventional thermal power plants that are designed to operate at base-load conditions to cycle their load rapidly and frequently and operate under low-load conditions. Fast load-following operations lead to plant efficiency loss and the reduction of equipment life. A high-fidelity dynamic model of a natural gas combined cycle power plant, with rigorous equipment level submodels, is developed to capture the plant transient performance and the thermomechanical stress evolution at the high-pressure drum is computed to assess the drum life consumption. Stress evolution is modeled for the location of the edge at the drum/downcomer junction that experiences high circumferential stress amplitude during the fast load-following operation, leading to higher fatigue damage than locations considered under existing design standards. A dynamic optimization problem is solved for optimal load-following operation. Depending on the value of the stress constraint and the desired ramp rate, satisfying the desired stress constraint may be infeasible without relaxing the ramp rate. A multiobjective dynamic optimization problem is solved using a lexicographic approach that minimizes ramp rate relaxation and maximizes efficiency while satisfying stress constraints, avoiding spraying to saturation, andmore » maintaining main steam and reheat steam temperature within bounds. It was observed that the optimal ramp rate can be highly nonlinear as opposed to the industry-standard linear ramp rate. Nonlinear optimal ramp-rate profiles not only help to avoid stress constraints that may be unavoidable by using the linear profile but also result in higher efficiency than the linear profile. Furthermore, the study shows that there is a strong tradeoff between the relaxation in the plant ramp rate and the time-average thermal efficiency.« less

Authors:

Wang, Yifan ^[1]; Bhattacharyya, Debangsu  ^[1];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-9957-7528"

Turton, Richard ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)

Publication Date:

Fri Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2021

Research Org.:

West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE

OSTI Identifier:

1824287

Grant/Contract Number:  

PI0000017

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 60; Journal Issue: 39; Journal ID: ISSN 0888-5885

Publisher:

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Stress; Moisture; Optimization; Power; Water