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To cite this article: Vladimir D. Stevanovic, Milan M. Petrovic, Sanja Milivojevic & Blazenka
Maslovaric (2015) Prediction and Control of Steam Accumulation, Heat Transfer Engineering, 36:5,
498-510, DOI: 10.1080/01457632.2014.935226
Steam accumulators are applied as buffers between steam generators and consumers in cases of different steam production
and consumption rates. The application of the steam accumulator saves energy, reduces pressure fluctuations, and prevents
aging of tubes and pressurized vessels in steam generators. In this paper, modes of the steam accumulator operation are
analyzed and the general design of the steam accumulator control system is defined. Equilibrium and nonequilibrium
thermodynamic models of the steam accumulator are presented with the aim of predicting the steam accumulator capacity
and as support to the design of the control system. The equilibrium model is based on the mass and energy balance equations
of the total water and steam content in the accumulator, while the nonequilibrium model is based on the mass and energy
balance equations for each phase and closure laws of nonequilibrium evaporation and condensation rates. The steam
accumulator pressure transients are simulated for constant steam charging and discharging flow rates, and the influence of
the nonequilibrium condensation and evaporation rates on the steam accumulator capacity is shown. It is concluded that
the commonly used equilibrium thermodynamic approach to the steam accumulator design does not provide accurate results
in cases of rapid charging and discharging transients; therefore, there is a need for the application of the nonequilibrium
approach.
498
V. D. STEVANOVIC ET AL. 499
the steam consumption from the LPH (Figure 2) is assumed con- reduction station PRS in order to keep the pressure in the low-
stant. Diagrams show the accumulator charging in the periods pressure header (LPH) within the prescribed pressure interval.
of lower steam consumption and the accumulator discharging If the pressure in the low-pressure header (LPH) decreases
in the periods of higher consumption. In addition, the flow rate and the control valve in the PRS-AO is fully opened, the control
through the pressure reduction station in parallel connection circuit 1NIRC sends a signal for the opening of the control valve
to the accumulator is variable, where the minimal flow rates in the pressure reduction station PRS.
through the pressure reduction station coincide with instants of
steam accumulator maximum charging and discharging rates.
In the general case, consumptions from both the high- Control of the Steam Accumulator Charging
pressure header and the low-pressure header can be variable
and stochastic (i.e., not periodic as it is shown in Figures 3 and The control circuit 2NIRC (Figure 2) adjusts the control valve
4). For such cases, the only possible mode of operation that in the pressure reduction station PRS-AI, in the accumulator
provides utilization of the total accumulation capacity of the inlet steam pipeline, on the basis of the measured pressure in
steam accumulator is the variable steam accumulator charging the high-pressure header (HPH) in front of the accumulator and
and discharging rates, as well as variable flow in the steam ac- the measured pressure in the accumulator vessel.
cumulator bypass line with the pressure reduction station (PRS If the pressure in the high-pressure header (HPH) increases
in Figure 2). The control for such a general case of operation is above prescribed setpoint and the pressure in the accumulator
presented in the next subsection. is lower than the pressure in the HPH, the circuit 2NIRC sends
the signal for the opening of the valve in the PRS-AI.
If the pressure in the steam accumulator is equal or higher
Control System for the Steam Accumulator Operation than the pressure in the HPH or the pressure in the HPH is lower
than prescribed lower setpoint, the control valve in the PRS-AI
Measurement and control circuits for the control of the steam is being closed or it remains closed.
accumulator operation are shown in Figure 2. The charging of
the steam accumulator is controlled with the throttling valve in
the pressure reduction station PRS-AI, which is being positioned Control of the Steam Accumulator Discharging
with the control circuit 2NIRC. The accumulator discharging is
controlled with the control throttling valve in the pressure reduc- The control circuit 3NIRC (Figure 2) adjusts the control
tion station PRS-AO, which is being positioned with the control valve in the pressure reduction station PRS-AO in the accumu-
circuit 3NIRC. The position of the control throttling valve in the lator outlet steam pipeline based on the measured pressure in
pressure reduction station PRS, which is in parallel connection the header LPH after the accumulator and the pressure in the
to the steam accumulator, is determined by the control circuit accumulator vessel.
1NIRC. A description of these control circuits follows. If the pressure in the low-pressure header (LPH) decreases
below minimum setpoint and the pressure in the accumulator is
higher than the pressure in the LPH, the control circuit 3NIRC
Control of the Flow Through the Pressure Reduction Station sends a signal for the opening of the control valve in the PRS-
(PRS) AO.
If the pressure in the LPH increases above the maximum
The control circuit 1NIRC (Figure 2) adjusts the valve in setpoint, the circuit 3NIRC sends a signal for closing of the
the pressure reduction station (PRS) based on the measured valve in PRS-AO.
pressure in the high-pressure header (HPH) in front of the accu- If the pressure in the accumulator is lower than the pressure
mulator and the pressure in the low-pressure header (LPH) after in the LPH, the control valve in the PRS-AO does not open.
the accumulator toward the consumer. In addition, the signal
of the fully closed or opened position of the control valve in
the pressure reduction station PRS-AO after the accumulator is Control of the Steam Temperature at the Steam Accumulator
used. Inlet
If the pressure in the high-pressure header (HPH) decreases
below the specified setpoint value, the circuit 1NIRC sends The control circuit 2TICA (Figure 2) adjusts the valve for
a signal for the closing of the control valve in the pressure the control of the cold feedwater flow in the attemperator (valve
reduction station PRS in order to keep the pressure in the HPH 3 in Figure 2) based on the measured steam temperature after
within the prescribed interval. This signal has a priority over the attemperator, the measured steam accumulator pressure, and
other signals sent to the circuit 1NIRC. the signal on the position of the control valve in the PRS-AI.
If the pressure in the header LPH increases above the setpoint The measured temperature after the attemperator is compared
value and the valve in PRS-AO is fully closed, the circuit 1NIRC with the saturation temperature determined by the measured
sends a signal for the closing of the control valve in the pressure accumulator pressure. If the measured temperature is higher than
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 5 2015
V. D. STEVANOVIC ET AL. 503
the saturation temperature, the control valve for the feedwater are calculated as m P T 1 = m c m e and m P T 2 = m e m c . The
flow control is being opened; otherwise it is being closed. volume balance is also applied:
If the control valve in the PRS-AI in front of the accumulator
is fully closed, the circuit 2TICA sends a signal for the complete V1 + V2 = V (5)
closure of the valve 3 in order to prevent feedwater injection in The evaporation rate is calculated as
the steam line when there is no steam flow.
The control of the steam temperature in the PRS by the con- 1 V1 h 1 h
m e = , for h 1 > h (6)
trol circuit 1TICA is similar to the already-described control by e r
2TICA. The control of the water level in the steam accumulator and m e = 0 if water is saturated or subcooled, that is, h 1 h .
vessel is performed by the circuit LICA (Figure 2). Similarly, the condensation rate is predicted as
1 V1 h h 1
m c = (7)
MODELING OF THE STEAM ACCUMULATOR c r
OPERATION
and m c = 0 if water is saturated or superheated, that is, h 1 h .
A closure law for the calculation of evaporation and con-
Simulation of the steam accumulator charging and discharg-
densation relaxation times e and c is derived starting from
ing tests is performed with both nonequilibrium and equilibrium
the statement that the mass transfer rate of phase transition is
models.
determined by the product of the interfacial area concentration
ai and the phase transition mass flux ji ,
Nonequilibrium Model i = ai ji (8)
The steam accumulator model is based on the following mass where index i equals e or c. From Eqs. (6) and (7) it follows that
and energy balance equations. the phase transition rate is
Liquid mass balance: 1 h 1 h
i = (9)
d M1 i r
= m 1B + m P T 1 (1)
dt The expression for the relaxation time is derived from the
Steam mass balance: equality of the right-hand sides of Eqs. (8) and (9):
d M2
= m 2B + m P T 2 (2) 1 h 1 h
dt i = (10)
ji ai r
Liquid energy balance:
The phase transition mass flux is calculated by applying the
d H1 dp
= (mh)1B + m P T 1 h + Q 21 + V1 (3) coefficient of heat transfer k1i between the steamwater interface
dt dt and the surrounding water mass,
Steam energy balance: k1i |T1 Tsat |
ji = (11)
d H2 dp r
= (mh)2B + m P T 2 h Q 21 + V2 (4)
dt dt where the numerator in Eq. (11) represents the heat flux at the
In the preceding equations the liquid water inlet and outlet interface due to phase transition, T1 is the water temperature,
mass flow rates are calculated as m 1B = m 1,in m 1,out , and and Tsat is the saturation temperature determined by the pressure
consequently for the steam inlet and outlet mass flow rates are in the accumulator. Evaporation and condensation take place at
m 2B = m 2,in m 2,out . These mass flow rates are prescribed time the surface of the water pool and at the interface of bubbles
functions or depend on the difference between a calculated pres- within the water volume. The bubbles are formed during accu-
sure in the steam accumulator and a prescribed pressure in the mulator discharging due to adiabatic nucleation in superheated
volume connected with the steam accumulator (upstream and water. During accumulator charging, the bubbles are formed
downstream steam header, water storage reservoir, etc.). The in- due to steam injection in the water volume through perforated
let and outlet energy flow rates at the steam accumulator bound- tubes. Although these mechanisms of bubble formation are dif-
aries are calculated as (mh)1B = m 1,in h 1,in m 1,out h 1,out for ferent, it is assumed that at a certain distance from the location
liquid water and (mh)2B = m 2,in h 2,in m 2,out h 2,out for steam. of bubbles formation in a large water volume, their number will
The water and steam inlet enthalpies are specified according to be the same for the same steam volume fraction. Therefore, the
the operating conditions, while the outlet enthalpies are equal following derivation of the phase transition model holds both
to water and steam enthalpies in the accumulator vessel that for the evaporation and condensation. An approximate analysis
are calculated by the model balance equations. The liquid and of the amounts of phase transitions on the water pool surface
steam mass changes due to evaporation and condensation rates and at the bubbles interface shows that the former is negligible.
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 5 2015
504 V. D. STEVANOVIC ET AL.
That is, the results presented in the Results section and discus- Interfacial area concentration is calculated as the product of
sions with Figure 10 (shown later) show that the total steam the concentration of bubbles n and the area of the spherical
evaporation or condensation rate is in the range between 1 kg/s bubble surface:
and 10 kg/s in a horizontal cylindrical accumulator of length
Db 2
L = 11.9 m and diameter D = 2.9 m. The corresponding heat ai = n 4 (17)
transfer rate for the phase transition between the water volume 2
and all steamwater interface surfaces Q P H is in the range be-
The bubble diameter is calculated on the basis of the critical
tween 1.7 and 17 MJ/s (for the accumulator pressure of 4 MPa
Weber number Wecr for bubbly flow [11]:
and corresponding latent heat of evaporation/condensation 1.7
MJ/kg). First it is assumed that the phase transition takes place W ecr
Db = (18)
only on the surface of the water pool, that is, the presence of 1 (u 2 u 1 )2
bubbles in the water volume is neglected. For the stagnant water
where Wecr = 1.24. The concentration of bubbles is predicted
volume in the accumulator, for instance, at 4 MPa steam pres-
in the same analytical form as developed for the adiabatic evap-
sure, the temperature gradient on the laminar water side of the
oration in nozzle flow [11,13],
water pool surface is calculated from the equality of the heat
flux calculated with the well-known Fouriers law and the heat n = 106.80.15 log Gi (19)
flux of phase transition as follows:
where the parameter Gi is defined as
dT1 Q P H /(L D)
dy = 1
(12)
Gi =
163
2 (20)
3k B r 2 T1 h 1 h 1 2
where y is the normal distance from the interface surface; 1
is the thermal conductivity of subcooled or superheated water The first empirical constant in the exponent of Eq. (19) has
and its value is slightly greater or lower than 0.62 W/(m-K) at 4 a value of 12.5 in the original correlation [13], while here the
MPa. The numerator on the right-hand side represents the heat lower value 6.8 is applied in order to obtain good agreement
flux from (in the case of condensation) or toward (in the case of the model pressure transient predictions with measured data.
of evaporation) the interface surface due to phase transition. This lower value implies a much lower concentration of bubbles
According to Eq. (12), the temperature gradient is in the range under adiabatic evaporation in the accumulator stagnant water
than in the high-velocity water nozzle flow (the reduction of the
dT1 (1.7 106 to 17 106 )/(11.9 2.9) K
bubbles concentration is approximately of the order 105), which
dy = 0.62
= 79 to 790
mm is physically plausible behavior.
(13)
Besides the presented analytical approach for the calculation
Assuming that the water surface temperature equals the tem-
of the evaporation and condensation relaxation times e and c ,
perature of saturation determined by the steam pressure in the
the mean values of these parameters are determined by com-
accumulator, the result from Eq. (13) implies water subcool-
parison of calculated pressure transients with measured values
ing or superheating in the range from 79 K to 790 K, which is
in benchmark tests. Comparison of analytically and empirically
obviously impossible. Therefore, it is concluded that the contri-
obtained values of the relaxation time is presented and discussed
bution of the water pool surface to the phase transition rate is
in the Results and Discussion sections.
negligible, which means that the phase transition takes place on
The heat transfer rate from the superheated steam to the liquid
the steamwater interfaces of steam bubbles. According to this
and vice versa in Eqs. (3) and (4) is calculated as
conclusion, the heat transfer coefficient and the interfacial area
concentration in Eqs. (10) and (11) are calculated for the condi- Q 21 = k2i ai (T2 T1 ) V1 (21)
tions of steam bubbly flow in stagnant water. The heat transfer
coefficient between the bubble interface and the surrounding where the steamwater interface area concentration ai is cal-
continuous water is calculated as [11] culated by Eq. (17) and the convective heat transfer coefficient
for the heat transfer between the bubble interface and the steam
1 1/2 1/3
in the bubble k2i is approximately determined by the theoretical
k1i = 2 + 0.74Reb Pr1 (14)
Db solution for the transient conduction in the sphere [11],
where the Reynolds number for bubble flow is calculated as 2
k2i = 16 (22)
Db 1 (u 2 u 1 ) Db
Reb = (15)
1 The system of balance equations (15) is transformed in a
and the relative velocity between the steam bubble and the stag- set of firstorder differential equations as follows. The steam
nant water mass (u1 = 0) is calculated as [12] and liquid water volumes in the volume balance (5) are written
1 as products of the corresponding mass and specific volume.
g (1 2 ) 4 Further, the specific volumes of liquid water and steam are
u 2 = 1.4 (16)
21 written as functions of pressure and corresponding enthalpies,
heat transfer engineering vol. 36 no. 5 2015
V. D. STEVANOVIC ET AL. 505
that is, v1 = v1 ( p, h 1 ) and v2 = v2 ( p, h 2 ). The volume balance volume is v = V M, where V is the total internal volume of the
is differentiated by time and the following equation is obtained: steam accumulator. Differentiation of the total enthalpy leads to
d M1 d M2 v1 dp v1 dh 1 dH
=M
dh
+h
dM
(29)
v1 + v2 + M1 +
dt dt p h dt h p dt dt dt dt
The specific enthalpy derivative is
v2 dp v2 dh 2 dh dh dr dp dx
+M2 + =0 (23) = +x +r (30)
p h dt h p dt dt dp dp dt dt
In energy balances (3) and (4) the total enthalpies H1 and H2 and the quality derivative is
are replaced with corresponding products of masses and specific dx 1 v dM
enthalpies, and after differentiation this is obtained: =
dt M (v v ) dt
dh 1 1 dp d M1
= (mh)1B + m P T 1 h + Q 21 + M1 v1 h1
dt M1 dt dt 1 dv v v d v v dp
+ (31)
(v v ) dp (v v ) 2 d p dt
(24)
Due to the thermodynamic equilibrium condition, the specific
volumes of the saturated water v and steam v, the saturated
water enthalpy h, and the latent heat of phase transition r are
dh 2 1 dp d M2
= (mh)2B + m P T 2 h Q 21 + M2 v2 h2 only functions of pressure. By the introduction of Eqs. (29),
dt M2 dt dt
(30), and (31) into (28) the differential equation for the pressure
calculation is obtained in the following form:
(25)
Substitution of Eqs. (24) and (25) in (23) leads to
v1 v2 1 v2
dp h 1 h p
v1
d M1
dt
+ h 2 h p
v 2
d M2
dt
v
h p
(mh)1B + m P T 1 h + Q 21 h p
(mh)2B + m P T 2 h Q 21
= (26)
dt v1 v1 v2 v2
p + v1 h p M 1 + p + v 2 h p M2
h h
Equations (1), (2), (24), (25), and (26) provide a set of five
first-order ordinary differential equations for the prediction of rV
water and steam masses, enthalpies, and steam accumulator dp (mh)1B (mh)2B + v Mv h (m 1B + m 2B )
=
M v dr M v
V V
pressure, respectively. These equations are solved numerically dt M dh + r dv
r d(v v)
V
v v dp
v v dp
by using the RungeKutta method [14] for specified initial val- dp (v v ) 2 dp
(32)
ues of dependant variables, that is, water and steam masses and
Equations (27) and (32) are solved numerically by using
enthalpies and initial steam accumulator pressure.
the RungeKutta method for specified initial values of the total
mass of water and steam and for the initial pressure in the steam
accumulator.
Equilibrium Model
Figure 6 Measured inlet steam mass flow rate during the test of steam accu- Figure 8 Condensation relaxation time calculated with Eq. (10) and the con-
mulator charging. stant empirical value 85 s.