4. Conclusions

This chapter presents a methodology of a modeling and simulation of the steam generation process conceived as a development tool that permits the evaluation of different operating conditions of Industrial Boiler and HRSG systems. The objective is to support critical engineering decisions with respect to design, fault evaluation, and integrated analysis. Also, the simulation system allows the development of simulation exercises about interest scenarios to determine important multivariable cause-effects in both, industrial boilers and HRSG systems, without exposing the equipment to harmful and costly operative tests.

Two case studies are shown with validation tables both, in steady state and dynamic conditions. Even though the mathematical models are simplified, the results provide enough precision to study very complex dynamical behavior of this multivariable thermal process. Results show a difference of less than 5% with respect to the manufacturer's predicted performances in critical values of drum pressure, steam flow, steam temperatures, and hot flue gases flow. The numerical stability of the simulation behaves well due to the robustness of the discretization methodology and numerical methods used in the simulation model. The simulation model generates accumulated discrepancies and errors between 2 and 5% in temperature errors for the heat exchanger models such as economizers and superheaters. The drum pressure follows the main steam demand as expected and the hot flue gases have a slight overshoot when the ramp ends at full nominal load. The controller showed a good performance maintaining the drum liquid level steady during all simulation exercises. Finally, the modular approach used can be expanded to include different geometric configurations and operating conditions, as well as different tuning alternatives for the control system [19–22].
