Combined Cycle Performance Evaluation and Dynamic Response Simulation

Abstract

Power plants operating in combined cycle present higher thermal efficiency (over 60%) and increased power generation when compared to traditional simple cycles, such as gas or steam turbines operating alone. Considering that the power plant evaluated in this paper is already operational, a further development concerning to the power plant control system is required in order to evaluate disturbances and frequency variations, generated by the electrical grid during normal operation, as the loads applied to the turbines are intrinsically associated to the grid frequency. A computer program able to simulate the control system was developed to cope with these instabilities and to guarantee the necessary protection to the power plant operation. The develop program was made using MATLAB Simulink®. The main components of the power plant consists of 2 gas turbines of 90 MW each and a steam turbine of 320 MW, totalizing 500 MW. Firstly, the power plant main components were constructed separately. Once obtained stable models, the exhaust from the gas turbine was connected to the water-steam cycle through the heat recovery steam generator. The main parameters necessary to adjust the model such as gains, limits and constants were obtained from the power plant operational data. The simulation results allowed the evaluation of some key parameters; others are possible but not shown, such as power, exhaust gas temperature, fuel flow and variable stator angles during grid instabilities. The studies were conducted by testing the robustness, response time, transient analysis, steady state analysis and reliability of the proposed model.