Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

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Annals of Nuclear Energy

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anucene

Modeling and simulation of feedwater control system with multiple

once-through steam generators in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (I):
Dynamic model development
Peiwei Sun ⇑, Xianshan Zhang
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Advanced Nuclear Energy and Technology, School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an,
Shaanxi 710049, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The sodium-heated steam generator plays a crucial role in the operation and safety of sodium-cooled fast
Received 3 August 2019 reactor. The configuration with multiple steam generators poses challenges to the feedwater control
Received in revised form 9 October 2019 system design. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an appropriate dynamic model and investigate its
Accepted 10 November 2019
dynamics. The dynamic model is derived by applying mass, energy and momentum conservation
equations and lumped-parameter approach. Steady-state calculations were performed and the results
agreed well with those obtained from a thermal-hydraulic design code and the design parameters.
Keywords:
Transient simulations were carried out by introducing step disturbances to the inputs. The system
Sodium-heated steam generator
Moving boundary method
responses were analyzed and the dynamics were investigated. Unsymmetrical conditions were also sim-
Dynamic model development ulated to study the interaction responses of different channels. Through analysis, the results were reason-
Dynamic analysis able in theory. Therefore, the developed model can predict the dynamics of the feedwater system with
Feedwater control system multiple steam generators and can be used for feedwater control system design.
Parallel channel Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction ondary and third circuits. The steam generator is of once-through

Liquid sodium works as the coolant in the Sodium-cooled Fast
Reactor (SFR). The main features of SFR are fast spectrum and
closed fuel system. Its advantage is to improve nuclear resource
utilization and manage high-level waste. SFR has been chosen as
one of six potential reactors for Generation IV nuclear systems.
Under Generation IV International Forum (GIF) leadership, three
baseline options are considered: a large size (600-2000MWe)
loop-type reactor, an intermediate-to-large size (300-2000MWe)
pool-type and a small size (50-150MWe) modular type. Collabora-
tions of SFR system encompass R&D in the areas of advanced fuels,
safety approach, in-service inspection, tests in SFRs, components,
advanced energy conversion systems, materials, codes and stan-
dards (Aoto et al., 2014; Ge et al., 2020; Hartanto et al., 2019;
Xiong et al., 2020).
The heat transport system of SFR adopts a typical sodium-
sodium-water three circuits design. The heat generated in the fuels
is absorbed by the liquid sodium, and then transferred to the
sodium in the secondary circuit through the intermediate heat
exchanger (IHX). Steam generators are located between the sec-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sunpeiwei@xjtu.edu.cn (P. Sun).
modular type with straight tubes. In this study, there are six steam
generators placed in parallel. Each steam generator consists of two
independent functional components: the evaporator and the
superheater. Feedwater is heated at the evaporator to produce
superheated steam with a certain degree of superheat. It goes
through subcooled, two-phase and superheated states. At the
superheater, the superheated steam is further heated to enhance
the thermal efficiency of the plant.
The steam generator is a critical equipment for SFR operation
and safety. The feedwater flow is regulated to make sure that the
heat produced in the reactor can be carried away timely. The pres-
ence of phase change in the steam generator makes it difficult to
predict the thermal-hydraulic behaviour. The design with multiple
steam generators poses challenges to the feedwater control. There-
fore, a dynamic model with a high degree of accuracy is necessary
to study the dynamic behaviour and provides detailed and deep
information for the feedwater control system.
A thermal-hydraulic design and analysis code (Sun et al., 2016)
was developed for one once-through steam generator. In this code,
a steady-state model was developed for the steam generator of
SFR. A thermal-hydraulic design code for SFR steam generator
was also reported in (Xu et al., 2019a). A transient analysis code
was developed for sodium heated once-through steam generator

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107208
0306-4549/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208
Nomenclature
A area (m2)
Cm tube thermal conductivity (W/(m K))
D mass flow velocity (kg/(m2 s))
De hydraulic diameter (m)
din inner tube diameter (m)
dout outer tube diameter (m)
f frictional factor
g gravitational constant (m/s2)
h specific enthalpy (J/kg)
H heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2 K))
Nu Nusselt number
i node number
P pressure (Pa)
Pe Peclet number
Pt tube pitch (m)
Pr Prandtl number
(Xu et al., 2019b). The code was used to predict the variations of
thermal-hydraulic parameters under different transient condi-
tions. A dynamic model was derived for an once-through steam
generator with concentric annuli tube (Zhu et al., 2012). The sim-
plified model with a few nodes was to simulate the dynamics of
the steam generator in real time. In all these references, only the
once-through steam generator itself was studied and the rest of
the feedwater system was not covered. In the open literature, there
are very few papers discussing the dynamic modeling of the feed-
water control system with multiple steam generators.
In this paper, the SFR feedwater system with multiple steam
generators is modeled. The moving boundary method is adopted
to model the evaporator to improve numerical stability and accu-
racy and the model is divided into four regions: (1) subcooled
region, (2) nucleate boiling region, (3) film boiling region, and (4)
superheated region. At the superheater, there is only superheated
steam and fixed boundary method is applied. A pressure drop
model is used to calculate the pressure drop of the steam generator
and the feedwater pipeline. A parallel channel model is used to
compute the flow distribution among different feedwater flow
channels. A feedwater valve model and a pump model are also
included to describe the behaviour of the valve and pump. The
dynamic model developed is verified based on the analysis of the
steady-state and transient results. Using the model developed in
this paper, the feedwater control system with multiple steam gen-
erators will be designed and the performance will be evaluated in
the next paper.
The rest of paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, the con-
figuration of feedwater system is briefly introduced. In Section 3,
the detailed dynamic model development process is presented. In
Section 4, the model is verified with a thermal-hydraulic design
code and the steam generator design data. Perturbations are intro-
duced to obtain the transient responses and the dynamics are ana-
lyzed. The conclusions are drawn in the last part.
2. A brief description of the feedwater system
Feedwater system configuration of the SFR is shown in Fig. 1.
There are six steam generators, and each steam generator consists
of two different functional modules: the evaporator and the super-
heater. The six steam generators are placed in two different loops
and each loop contains three steam generators. The heated sodium
from the IHX in the secondary loop enters the superheater firstly
and then the evaporator. The heat is released to the water/steam
in the third loop and the cooled sodium is collected and sent to
q’ heat transfer rate per unit length (W/m)
q00 heat flux (W/m2)
Q000 heat generation rate per unit volume (W/m3)
S wetted perimeter (m)
t time (s)
T temperature (°C)
r tube radius (m)
Re Reynolds number
X steam quality
Z tube length (m)
a node length in the subcooled region (m)
b node length in the nucleate boiling region (m)
c node length in the film boiling region (m)
g node length in the superheated region (m)
q density (kg/m3)
v void fraction
Fig. 1. Feedwater system configuration of the SFR.
the surge tank, and then driven back to the IHX by the sodium
pump. The feedwater is driven by the feedwater pumps and
divided into two loops. The feedwater flow in the loops is regulated
by the opening of the loop valve to keep the sodium temperature at
the evaporator outlet constant. The loop feedwater flow is sepa-
rated into three branches. The feedwater flow in different branches
is controlled by the opening of the branch valve to eliminate unbal-
ance at the sodium outlet temperature among different branches.
The feedwater enters the steam generator and absorbs heat from
the sodium to generate superheated steam. The steam is collected
at the steam header and sent to drive the steam turbine.
The steam generator of the SFR acts as the energy conversion
equipment between secondary and third circuits. The detailed
structure of the evaporator and superheater are shown in Figs. 2
and 3, respectively. As shown in Fig. 2, the feedwater enters the
bottom chamber of the evaporator from the feedwater inlet and
flows upward in the tubes. In the heat transfer tubes, the feedwater
absorbs the heat transferred from the sodium and produces super-
heated steam with a certain degree of superheat. The steam exits
the evaporator from the steam outlet and goes into the superheater
through the steam inlet as shown in Fig. 3. The steam is collected in
the upper chamber and flows downward. The steam temperature is
further increased by absorbing the heat from the sodium and sent
to the steam header passing the superheater steam outlet. In the
evaporator, the fluid goes through subcooled state, two-phase
state, and superheated state. In the superheater, there is only one
state: superheated steam.
 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208 3

Fig. 2. Structure of the evaporator (Sun et al., 2016).

The design parameters of the steam generator are shown in
Table 1 (Sun et al., 2016). The feedwater is at 190 °C and the super-
heated steam is at 480 °C with 14 MPa. At the sodium side, the
sodium inlet and outlet temperature are 495 °C and 310 °C,
respectively.
3. Dynamic model construction of the feedwater system
As shown in Fig. 1, the configuration of the feedwater system is
complicated and the model is divided into several parts. The
thermal-hydraulic model of the steam generator is the most
important and used to describe the thermal-hydraulic behaviour
of the sodium and the water/steam. The pressure drop model is
used to calculate the pressure drop of the steam generator and
the feedwater pipeline. The parallel channel model is to compute
the flow distribution among the loops and branches. The valve
model and pump model are also included. To clearly describe the
model development process, they are introduced one by one.
3.1. Thermal-hydraulic model of the steam generator
As shown in Fig. 4, in the radial direction the heat is transferred
from the sodium side to the water/steam side through the tube.
The thermal-hydraulic model is divided into three submodels: a
water/steam model, a tube model and a sodium model. In the axial
direction of each submodel, the temperature is changing along the
tube. The diameter of the tube is much smaller than its length.
Therefore, the thermal-hydraulic behaviour can be described by
one-dimensional model.
At the water/steam side of the evaporator, phase change occurs.
In the water/steam model, moving boundary method is applied. As
shown in Fig. 5, four regions are divided depending on their
4 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

Fig. 3. Structure of the superheater (Sun et al., 2016).

different thermal properties and mechanisms of heat transfer and

flow: subcooled region, nucleate boiling region, film boiling region
and superheated region. The regions are separated by
Table 1
Steam Generator Design Parameters (Sun et al., 2016). (1) h  hf;
(2) h > hf and Χ  Χcrit;
Parameter Value Parameter Value
(3) Χcrit < Χ < 1;
Thermal power/MW 32.5 Number of tubes at the 239
(4) Χ = 1.
evaporator
Tube pitch at the 0.028 Number of tubes at the 239 where h is the water/steam enthalpy, J/kg; hf is the enthalpy of the
evaporator/m superheater saturated water, J/kg; Χ is the steam quality; Χcrit is the critical
Tube pitch at the 0.033 Tube diameter/thickness/mm 16/ steam quality and it is determined by the Konikov & Modnikov cor-
superheater/m 2.5 relation (Konikov and Modnikov, 1966)
Feedwater temperature/°C 190 Steam temperature/°C 480
Sodium inlet temperature/°C 495 Sodium outlet temperature/°C 310
0:07 0:00795P
Steam outlet pressure/MPa 14.0 Degree of superheat at the 30 Xcrit ¼ 76:6q00:125 D1=3 ðdin  103 Þ e ð1Þ
evaporator/°C
Feedwater flow rate/kg/s 13.36 Sodium flow rate/kg/s 137.5 where q0 is the heat transfer rate per unit length, W/m; D is the
Evaporator tube length/m 11.75 Superheater tube length/m 5.2
mass flow velocity, kg/(m2 s); din is the inner tube diameter, m; P
is the pressure, bar.
 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208 5

Table 2
Heat transfer correlations in different regions.

Region Correlations Correlations

Subcooled Dittus-Boelter Nu ¼ 0:023Re0:8 Pr0:4
Region (Dittus and
Boelter, 1930)
 
Nucleate Thom (Thom et al., H ¼ ðq00 Þ0:5 exp P=8:69  106 =0:02253
Boiling 1965)
Region
Film Boiling Miropolskiy Nu ¼ 0:021Re0:989 Pr0:43 Y f
Region (Miropolskiy,
1963)
Superheated Dittus-Boelter Nu ¼ 0:023Re0:8 Pr0:4
Region (Dittus and
Boelter, 1930)

In the sodium and tube models, the node positions follow those
in the water/steam model. The heat transfer correlation for the
sodium flow is described by (Subbotin et al., 1964)
"  0:46 #
De Pt
Nu ¼ 8 þ 0:027  1:1 Pe0:6 ð2Þ
Fig. 4. Heat transfer model of the steam generator. Z dout

where Nu is the Nusselt number; De is the hydraulic diameter, m; Z

is the tube length, m; Pt is the tube pitch, m; dout is the tube outer
diameter, m; and Pe is the Peclet number.
i N At the superheater, there is only superheated steam at the
steam side and the fixed boundary method is adopted. The heat
transfer correlation at the steam side is the Dittus-Boelter correla-
tion as shown in Table 2 and at the sodium side it is the Subbotin
correlation as shown in Eq. (2).

i M 3.1.1. Thermal-hydraulic model of the evaporator

3.1.1.1. Water/steam model. The water/steam dynamics are
described by a one-dimensional model. The mass, energy and
momentum conservation equations are applied to derive the
dynamic model.
@q @D
¼ ð3Þ
i L @t @Z

@ðqhÞ @ðDhÞ @P
¼ þ q000 þ ð4Þ
@t @Z @t
!
@D @ D2 @P 1 D2 S
¼   f  qg ð5Þ
@t @Z q @Z 2 q r A

At the water/steam side, the pressure drop is only a small frac-

tion of its absolute pressure. The pressure distribution is assumed
to have negligible effects on the dynamics and the momentum
i K equation is not applied in the thermal-hydraulic model.
To obtain the representations of Eqs. (3) and (4) in the form of
ordinary differential equations, the terms with time derivatives are
integrated using Leibnitz theorem:
Z Z
Zi
@f d Zi
dZ i dZ i1
dZ ¼ fdZ  f i þ f i1 ð6Þ
Z i1 @t dt Z i1 dt dt
Fig. 5. Region division in the evaporator.
where f ¼ q; qh;f i ¼ f ðZ i ; tÞ;f i1 ¼ f ðZ i1 ; tÞ; Zi-1 and Zi are the dis-
The node numbers in the regions are K, L-K, M-L, N-M and the tance of the ith node lower and upper boundary from the feedwater
boundary positions are at ZK, ZL, ZM and ZN, respectively. The heat inlet.
transfer correlations in different regions are selected and shown The first term at the right hand side of the Eq. (6) can be rewrit-
in Table 2. ten as
In Table 2, Pr is the Prandtl number; q00 is the heat flux, W/m2; Yf Z 
is computed by d Zi
dðf i ðZ i  Z i1 ÞÞ _
fdZ ¼ ¼ f i ðZ i  Z i1 Þ þ f i ðZ_ i  Z_ i1 Þ ð7Þ
2 !0:4 3" #0:8 dt Z i1 dt
qf qf
Y f ¼ 41  0:1 1 ð1  X Þ 0:4 5
X þ ð1  XÞ 
qg qg where f i is the average value of f in the ith node and here upwind

approximation is applied to obtain f i .
6 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

Substituting Eq. (7) into (6), the following equation is derived (b) Nucleate Boiling Region
Z Zi
@f
dZ ¼ f_ i ðZ i  Z i1 Þ þ Z_ i1 ðf i1  f i Þ ð8Þ In the two-phase region, the density is dependent on the void
Z i1 @t fraction
The integration of the remaining terms in Eqs. (3) and (4) q ¼ vqg þ ð1  vÞqf ¼ qf þ vqgf ð20Þ
Z Zi
@D
dZ ¼ Di  Di1 ð9Þ where qf is the density of the saturated water, kg/m3; qg is the den-
@Z
sity of the dry saturated steam, kg/m3; qgf ¼ qg  qf ; and v is the
Z i1

Z void fraction.
Zi
@ðDhÞ _
½ þ q000 þ PdZ ¼ Di1 hi1  Di hi þ q000 ðZ i  Z i1 Þ Therefore, the derivative of the density
Z i1 @Z
_ i  Z i1 Þ
þ PðZ ð10Þ q_ ¼ q_ f þ vq_ gf þ v_ qgf ð21Þ

From Eqs. (8), (9) and (10), the following equations are obtained From Eqs. (11) and (21), one can obtain the void fraction

q_ i ðZ i  Z i1 Þ  Z_ i1 ðqi  qi1 Þ þ Di  Di1 ¼ 0 ð11Þ ðq_ f þ vi q_ gf ÞðZ i  Z i1 Þ  Z_ i1 ðqi  qi1 Þ þ Di  Di1
v_ i ¼  ð22Þ
qgf ðZ i  Z i1 Þ
dðqhÞi
ðZ i  Z i1 Þ  Z_ i1 ½ðqhÞi  ðqhÞi1  þ ðDhÞi  ðDhÞi1 The term qh in the energy equation (12) is described by
dt
¼ q000 _ qh ¼ ð1  vÞqf hf þ vqg hg ð23Þ
i ðZ i  Z i1 Þ þ PðZ i  Z i1 Þ ð12Þ

Therefore,
(a) Subcooled region
dðqhÞ
¼ v_ R þ vR_ þ M
_ ð24Þ
The density of the subcooled water is considered as a function dt
of its pressure and specific enthalpy
where, R ¼ qg hg  qf hf ; M ¼ qf hf .
q ¼ f ðP; hÞ ð13Þ The mass flow velocity of the ith node is obtained from Eqs.
The derivative of the density is represented as (12), (22) and (24)

@q _ @q _ Di ¼ ½Di1 ðhi1  hR Þ þ Z_ i1 ðhR ðqi  qi1 Þ  ðqi hi  qi1 hi1 ÞÞ

q_ ¼ Pþ h ð14Þ
@P @h þ /i =ðhi  hR Þ ð25Þ
Substituting Eq. (14) into Eq. (11), the specific enthalpy is deter-
mined by where,

Z_ i1 ðqi  qi1 Þ  ðDi  Di1 Þ  ð@ qi =@PÞPðZ

_ i  Z i1 Þ /i ¼ ðZ i  Z i1 Þ½P_ þ q000 þ hR ðvi q_ gh þ q_ f Þ  vi R_  M
_
h_ i ¼ ð15Þ
ð@ qi =@hi ÞðZ i  Z i1 Þ

" #
_ i  Z i1 Þ
Z i1 ðð@ qi =@hi Þqi1 ðhi  hi1 Þ  qi ðqi  qi1 ÞÞ  PðZ
Di ¼ =qi ð16Þ
ðð@ qi =@hi Þ þ ð@ qi =PÞqi  ð@ qi =@hi Þq000
i ðZ i  Z i1 Þ þ Di1 ð@ qi =@hi Þðhi  hi1 Þ þ qi Þ

Substitute Eq. (15) into (12) and the mass flow velocity is
obtained
At the boundary position between the subcooled region and the
nucleate boiling region, it is the saturated water. The specific
enthalpy of the saturated water hK is only dependent on its pres-
sure. What’s more, the density at the saturated point under differ-
ent pressures is slightly different and it can be considered as a
constant. Therefore, for the Kth node
R
hR ¼
qgf
The boundary position between the nucleate boiling region and
the film boiling region is at the point with the critical steam qual-
ity, which is described by Eq. (1). The critical steam quality is
dependent on the mass flow velocity and the pressure. Therefore,
the derivative of the critical steam quality is

q_ K ¼ 0 ð17Þ @X crit _ @X crit _

X_ crit ¼ Dþ P ð26Þ
Substituting Eq. (17) into Eq. (12), the boundary position is @D @P
determined by the following equation The steam quality and the void fraction is related by
h_ K qK ðZ K  Z K1 Þ þ DK hK  DK1 hK1  PðZ
_ K  Z K1 Þ  q000 ðZ K  Z K1 Þ jX
Z_ K1 ¼ v¼ ð27Þ
qK hK  qK1 hK1 1 þ Xðj  1Þ
ð18Þ
where j ¼ qg =qf .
The node length in this region is determined by The derivative of the void fraction is
Z_ K1 v½v þ jð1  vÞ _ vð1  vÞ _
a_ ¼ ð19Þ v_ ¼ Xþ j ð28Þ
K 1 jX j
Therefore, the void fraction at the Lth node is
 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208 7

vL ½vL þ jð1  vL Þ _ v ð1  vL Þ _ ðhp;iþ1  hp;i Þðqp Z_ iþ1 þ Dp Þ  q000

p;iþ1 ðZ iþ1  Z i Þ
v_ L ¼ X crit þ L j ð29Þ h_ p;i ¼ ð39Þ
jX crit j qp ðZ iþ1  Z i Þ
For the Lth node, the following equation is obtained from Eq.
(22) to determine the boundary position
3.1.1.3. Tube model. For the tube, in the radial direction only one
v_ L qgf ðZ L  Z L1 Þ þ ðq_ f þ vL q_ gf ÞðZ L  Z L1 Þ þ DL  DL1 node is considered. The tube temperature is determined by the
Z_ L1 ¼ ð30Þ
qL  qL1 heat balance equation

The node length in the nucleate region is described by pðr2o  r2i Þqm C m T_ m ¼ q00p  q00 ð40Þ

Z_ L1  K a_ To integrate both sides, the average tube temperature of the ith
b¼ ð31Þ node is
LK 1
_
 ðq00p  q00 Þ ðT m;i  T m;i1 ÞðZ_ i þ Z_ i1 Þ
(c) Film Boiling Region T m;i ¼ þ ð41Þ
p ðr 2o  qm C m
r 2i Þ 2ðZ i  Z i1 Þ

The void fraction and mass flow velocity in this region can also where,
be described by Eqs. (22) and (25). The boundary position between  T m;i þ T m;i1
the film boiling region and superheated region is the point where it T m;i ¼
2
is the dry saturated steam. At the Mth node, the void fraction is
always one and its derivative is
3.1.2. Thermal-hydraulic model of the superheater
v_ M ¼ 0 ð32Þ At the steam side of the superheater, there is only superheated
The boundary position is determined by substituting Eq. (32) steam and the fixed boundary method is applied. The derivation of
into Eq. (22) the model is much easier. The details of the model development is
not shown here and the final model is shown.
ðZ M  Z M1 Þðq_ f þ q_ gf Þ þ DM  DM1
Z_ M1 ¼ ð33Þ
qM  qM1 3.1.2.1. Water/steam model. The dynamics at the water/steam side
are described by
The node length of the film boiling region is obtained as
Di1 ðhi  hi1 Þ þ ðq000 _
Z_ M1  K a_  ðL  KÞb_ i þ PÞðZ i  Z i1 Þ
h_ i ¼ ð42Þ
c_ ¼ ð34Þ qi ðZ i  Z i1 Þ
ML1
@q _ @q _
(d) Superheated Region Di ¼ Di1  ð hi þ PÞðZ i  Z i1 Þ ð43Þ
@h @P
Similar to the subcooled region, the superheated steam is in a
single phase. The specific enthalpy and the mass flow velocity 3.1.2.2. Sodium model. At the sodium side, the dynamic model is
can be described by Eqs. (15) and (16). derived as
The total length of the tube is unchanged and the node length in 000
ðhp;iþ1  hp;i ÞDp  qp;iþ1 ðZ iþ1  Z i Þ
this region is h_ p;i ¼ ð44Þ
qp ðZ iþ1  Z i Þ
K a_ þ ðL  KÞb_ þ ðM  LÞc_
g_ ¼  ð35Þ
NM
3.1.2.3. Tube model. The tube temperature is described by
Therefore, the position of the ith node is described by
_
 ðq00p  q00 Þ
8 Tm ¼ ð45Þ
> ia_ ; 1 6 i 6 K pðr2o  r2i Þqm C m
>
>
< K a_ þ ði  KÞb;_ K<i6L
Z_ i ¼ ð36Þ Now the dynamic model development of the sodium-heated
>
>
> K a_ þ ðL  KÞb_ þ ði  LÞc_ ; L < i 6 M
: steam generator has been completed. The water/steam model con-
K a_ þ ðL  KÞb_ þ ðM  LÞc_ þ ði  MÞg_ ; M < i 6 N sists of Eqs. (15), (16) and (18) for the subcooled region, Eqs. (22),
(25) and (30) for the nucleate boiling region, Eqs. (22), (25) and
(33) for the film boiling region, Eqs. (15), (16) and (35) for the
3.1.1.2. Sodium model. The sodium is assumed to be incompressible
superheated region, and Eqs. (42) and (43) for the superheater.
and the dynamics at the sodium side can be described by
Eqs. (39) and (44) describe the dynamics of the sodium at the evap-
@hp @hp orator and the superheater, respectively. For the tube model, Eqs.
qp ¼ Dp  q000 ð37Þ
@t @Z p
(41) and (45) are adopted. The boundary positions are determined
where, hp is the specific enthalpy of sodium, J/kg; and q000 in the water/steam model, and they are followed in the sodium and
p is the heat
tube models.
release rate per unit volume, W/m3.
The term with time derivative is treated by Eq. (6) and the first
3.2. Pressure drop model
term in the right hand side is
Z 
The total pressure drop along the heat transfer tube of the
d Zi
dðhp;i ðZ i  Z i1 ÞÞ
hp dZ ¼ steam generator and the feedwater pipeline is governed by
dt Z i1 dt
DP ¼ DPel þ DPa þ DPf þ DPc ð46Þ
¼ h_ p;i1 ðZ i  Z i1 Þ  hp;i1 ðZ_ i  Z_ i1 Þ ð38Þ

where, DP is the total pressure drop, Pa; DPel is the gravitational
where hp;i is the average value of hp in the ith node and it is set as hp,i-1. pressure drop, Pa; DPa is the acceleration pressure drop, Pa; DP f is
Therefore, the sodium specific enthalpy of the ith node is the frictional pressure drop, Pa; DP c is the local pressure drop, Pa.
8 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

The gravitational pressure drop is calculated by 3.4. Feedwater loop and branch valve model
DPel ¼ qg DZ ð47Þ
The flow rate through the valve is based on the Bernoulli’s
where, DZ is the height of the control volume, m. equation
The acceleration pressure drop is obtained by sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
F 2ðP1  P 2 Þ
DPel ¼ Dðv 2  v 1 Þ ð48Þ W ¼ pffiffiffi ð57Þ
n q
where, v is the fluid velocity, m/s. where, P1 and P2 are the pressure before and after the valve, respec-
The single-phase frictional pressure drop is calculated by tively, Pa; F is the flow area, m2; and n is the resistance of the valve.
L qv 2 When the pressure drop of the valve is constant, the flow rate
DP f ¼ f ð49Þ depends on the resistance and flow area. The resistance is a func-
De 2
tion of the valve opening. Once the valve opening is determined,
where, f is the Darcy friction factor. Its value can be obtained from the resistance is obtained. Then the feedwater flow rate is obtained
Eqs. (50) and (51) based on the pressure drop using Eq. (57).
For laminar flow
64 3.5. Feedwater pump model
f ¼ ð50Þ
Re
The feedwater pump model is used to calculate the flow rate
For turbulent flow and pressure head based on the pump characteristics curves.
  According to the Affinity laws, Eq. (58) is to predict performance
e 68 0:25
f ¼ 0:11 þ ð51Þ as pump conditions change from pump reference flow Qref.
De Re
xref
Q ref ¼ Q ð58Þ
In the two-phase frictional pressure drop calculation, it is fur- x
ther multiplied by the two-phase frictional pressure drop
multiplier where, Q is current pump flow rate, m3/h; and x is the shaft speed,
rad/s.
   
mfg lfg 0:25 The pressure head is calculated by current shaft speed x and
/2f 0 ¼ 1 þ x 1þx ð52Þ density q.
mg lg
 2
The local pressure drop is calculated by x q
P ¼ Pref ð59Þ
xref qref
qv 2
DPc ¼ nm ð53Þ
2 where, Pref is obtained from the P-Q table according to the pump
rated flow rate Qref.
where, nm is the local resistance.

4. Simulation results
3.3. Parallel channel model
The dynamic model development is presented in the Section 3
The parallel channel model is applied to calculate the flow dis-
and the steam generator model is the most complicated. The struc-
tribution between the feedwater loops and among the feedwater
ture of the steam generator dynamic model is described by a block
branches. Mass and momentum equations are adopted to derive
diagram shown in Fig. 6. There are four inputs: feedwater flow rate
the model.
at the evaporator inlet, feedwater temperature at the evaporator
The mass conversation equation is
inlet, sodium flow rate and sodium inlet temperature at the super-
dW t X N
dW i heater inlet, and three outputs: steam outlet temperature at the
¼ ð54Þ superheater outlet, steam flow rate and sodium outlet temperature
dt i¼1
dt
at the evaporator outlet. Gear method is applied to perform the
where, W is the feedwater mass flow rate, kg/s; and subscript t and i numerical calculation for its high degree of stiffness. The steam
are for total channels and the ith channel, respectively. generator model is further implemented in Simulink through S
The momentum conservation equation is function. Other models are directly implemented in Simulink and
  ! connected to six steam generator models based on the feedwater
2 2
d Wi d Wi @P fWi system configuration shown in Fig. 1.
þ ¼    qg ð55Þ
dt Ai dt qAi2 @z 2De qAi2
4.1. Steady-state results
where, A is the flow area of the flow channel, m2.
For Eq. (55), multiply dZ at both sides and take integration along To verify the steam generator model developed, steady-state
the channel length L of the ith channel, and the following equation calculation is performed. The results of a thermal-hydraulic design
is obtained and analysis code is used to calculate the steady-state conditions of
RL   RL RL a steam generator SG-33 (Sun et al., 2016). The parameters of the
fWi2
L dWi
Ai dt
¼ ðPin  Pout Þ  d
0 dt qAi2
Wi2
dZ  0 2qAi2 De
dZ  0
qgdZ SG-33 steam generator are shown in Table 3. The node numbers
¼ Pin  Pout  DPa; i  DPf ; i  DPel; i of four regions are set as 4, 4, 6, 2, respectively and the node num-
ber for the superheater is 4. The temperature distribution along the
ð56Þ
tube at steady-state is shown in Fig. 7.
where, Pin and Pout are the pressure at the inlet and outlet of the The subcooled water enters the evaporator and is heated by the
parallel channels, respectively, Pa. sodium. The temperature is increased and when it reaches the sat-
In Eqs. (55) and (56), Pout and Wt are known. Therer are (i + 1) urated temperature, it is in the nucleate boiling region. In this
equations, and Wi and Pin can be calculated. region, under saturated conditions the water/steam temperature
 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208 9

Fig. 6. Steam generator dynamic model structure.

Table 3 Table 4
Steam Generator Design Parameters for SG-33. Steady-state Calculation Results.

Parameter Value Parameter Value Parameters Calculated SG-33 Relative

Results Results Error
Thermal power/MW 32.75 Number of tubes at the 187
evaporator Subcooled Region/m 4.92 4.77 3.1%
Tube pitch at the evaporator/m 0.032 Number of tubes at the 138 Nucleate Boiling Region/m 1.87 1.80 3.8%
superheater Film Boiling Region/m 4.27 4.41 3.2%
Tube pitch at the superheater/m 0.036 Tube diameter/ 16/ Superheated Region/m 1.18 1.26 6.3%
thickness/mm 2.5 Sodium Inlet Temperature/°C 495.9 495.0 0.2%
Feedwater temperature/°C 190 Steam temperature/°C 480 Steam Temperature/°C 481.5 480.0 0.3%
Sodium inlet temperature/°C 495 Sodium outlet 310 Thermal Power/MW 32.82 32.75 0.2%
temperature/°C
Steam outlet pressure/MPa 14.0 Degree of superheat at 30
the evaporator/°C
Evaporator tube length/m 12.24 Superheater tube 7.72
length/m The steady-state calculation is also performed for the steam
Feedwater flow rate/kg/s 13.36 Sodium flow rate 138.0 generator of the SFR in this study. The calculated steady-state
results are compared with those from the design data in Table 1
and shown in Table 5. The errors are small enough and the
steady-state results can be used as initial conditions for further
transient calculation.

4.2. Transient results

4.2.1. Symmetrical conditions

Under symmetrical conditions, there are no differences on the
feedwater flow for all six steam generators. Therefore, only one
steam generator is chosen to perform the simulation to investigate
the dynamics of the steam generator. The inputs of the steam gen-
erator model are disturbed: sodium flow, sodium inlet tempera-
ture, feedwater flow and feedwater inlet temperature. Step
disturbances are introduced to the inputs at 20 s. When one input
variable is perturbed from its design value, the others are kept
unchanged. The responses of the output variables are recorded
and shown in Figs. 8–10.

(a) A step decrease in the feedwater flow rate

A 10% decrease in the feedwater flow rate is introduced step-

Fig. 7. Temperature distribution along the tube. wise at 20 s. The heat transfer capacity of the steam generator is
reduced for the decrease in the feedwater flow rate. The heat trans-
fer rate is decreased and the sodium outlet temperature is
is unchanged. When the steam quality passes its critical steam
enhanced. It is increased by 15.5 °C as shown in Fig. 8. The heat car-
quality, it belongs to the film boiling region. The water/steam tem-
ried away by the water/steam per unit mass flow rate is increased.
perature is still at its saturated value in this region. When the
Therefore, the steam temperature is increased and stabilized at
steam quality equals to one, it is in the superheated region. The
superheated steam temperature is increasing as it is heated. When
the superheated steam goes into the superheater, its temperature Table 5
keeps increasing by absorbing the heat from the sodium. The Steady-state Calculation Results.
sodium temperature is decreasing along the tube of both the Parameters Calculated Design Relative
superheater and the evaporator. Results Parameters Error
As shown in Fig. 7, the temperature distribution of sodium and Sodium Outlet 308.4 310.0 0.5%
water/steam agree well with those from SG-33. The calculated Temperature/°C
region lengths and model outputs are listed in Table 4 and com- Steam Outlet 467.0 480.0 2.7%
pared with those obtained from SG-33. The errors are small and Temperature/°C
Thermal Power/MW 32.25 32.5 0.8%
the accuracy is high enough.
10 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

Fig. 8. Responses of sodium outlet temperature to different disturbances.

Fig. 9. Responses of steam temperature to different disturbances.

482.1 °C around 146 s as shown in Fig. 9. The steam flow rate fol-
lows the change in the feedwater flow rate and is set at 90% of its
original value as shown in Fig. 10.
(b) A step increase in the feedwater temperature
The feedwater temperature is increased stepwise by 10 °C at
20 s the temperature difference between the sodium and the
water/steam is decreased. The heat transfer rate is reduced. The
sodium inlet temperature is constant. Therefore, the sodium outlet
temperature is increased by 3.1 °C as shown in Fig. 8. The density
of water is decreased for the increase in the temperature. As a
result, more steam is pushed out of the steam generator and steam
flow rate is increased as shown in Fig. 10. But it is maintained at it
original value for the conservation of mass. The steam temperature
 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208
Fig. 10. Responses of steam flow rate to different disturbances.
is decreased firstly for the increase in the steam flow rate and then
increases. It is only slightly increased from its original value and
stabilized at 468.3 °C as shown in Fig. 9. The reason is that the ther-
mal power of the steam generator is reduced for the increase in the
feedwater temperature.
(c) A step increase in the sodium flow rate
A 10% step increase in the sodium flow rate is introduced at
20 s. More high temperature sodium enters the steam generator,
and the sodium outlet temperature is enhanced promptly and sta-
bilized at 324.6 °C around 145 s as shown in Fig. 8. The steam flow
rate is increased fast and significantly in the beginning as shown in
Fig. 10 and then decreased to its original value to meet the conser-
vation equation of mass. The steam temperature is reduced firstly
for the huge increase in the steam flow rate and then increases. It is
settled at 478.7 °C around at 145 s as shown in Fig. 9.
(d) A step increase in the sodium inlet temperature
The sodium inlet temperature is increased by 10 °C stepwise at
20 s. The feedwater flow rate is kept constant. The sodium outlet
temperature is increased with the rise in the sodium inlet temper-
ature and settled at 314.4 °C as shown in Fig. 8. The increase in the
sodium inlet temperature enhances the temperature difference
between two sides. The thermal power of the steam generator is
increased. The steam temperature is increased significantly and
settled at 584.2 °C around 148 s. The steam flow rate is increased
in the beginning for the enhanced heat transfer rate and more
Table 6
Output responses to different disturbances.
Disturbances Outputs Feedwater flow
Sodium outlet temperature Response amplitude/°C 15.5
Response time/s 134
Steam outlet temperature Response amplitude/°C 15.1
Response time/s 126
11
steam is generated. It returns to its original to satisfy the mass con-
servation equation.
The responses are summarized in Table 6. From the dynamic
response analysis, the sodium outlet temperature is most affected
from the sodium flow rate and feedwater flow rate. The sodium
temperature and feedwater temperature has less effects on it. For
the steam temperature, sodium inlet temperature has the largest
influence. The steam temperature is also affected significantly by
the feedwater flow rate and sodium flow rate. The feedwater tem-
perature has the least effect.
In the operation of SFR, the sodium temperature is required to
be constant at different power levels. The feedwater flow rate is
chosen to control the sodium outlet temperature. The sodium flow
follows the change of the power level and it has significant influ-
ence on the sodium outlet temperature. Therefore, the effect from
the sodium flow must be compensated. For the sodium tempera-
ture, it has less effect on the sodium outlet temperature. But it
affects the steam temperature significantly. The disturbances from
the sodium temperature should be considered in the controller
design. The feedwater temperature has the least effect on the
sodium and steam temperature. The effects can be eliminated by
the feedback control system and will not be directly considered
in the controller design.
4.2.2. Unsymmetrical conditions
Two cases are simulated to study the unsymmetrical condi-
tions: one is to enlarge the opening of the loop 1 valve. The other
one is to enlarge the opening of #1 branch valve of loop 1 and
Feedwater temperature Sodium flow Sodium inlet temperature
3.1 16.2 6.0
130 125 136
1.3 11.7 17.2
140 125 128
12 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

reduce the opening of #4 branch valve of loop 2. The effects from
the loop valve and branch valve on the feedwater flow rate, sodium
temperature and steam temperature are analyzed.
The valve opening of loop 1 is introduced by 1% step increase at
50 s. The opening of other valves is unchanged. The system
responses are shown in Figs. 11–13. The branch feedwater flow
rate in loop 1 increases promptly due to the enlargement in the
opening of loop 1 valve as shown in Fig. 11 and then decreases
to a stable value at 13.55 kg/s. The branch feedwater flow rate in
the loop 2 decreases. The sodium outlet temperature and steam
temperature in the loop 1 reduce by 2.0 °C and 3.4 °C for the
increase in the feedwater flow, respectively. The sodium outlet

Fig. 11. Responses of feedwater flow rate to the loop valve disturbance.

Fig. 12. Responses of sodium temperature to the loop valve disturbance.

 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208 13

Fig. 13. Responses of steam temperature to the loop valve disturbance.

temperature and steam temperature in the loop 2 rise by 0.7 °C and
1.1 °C because of the decrease in the feedwater flow rate,
respectively.
The changes in the feedwater flow and sodium temperature of
the loop 1 are larger than those of the loop 2. Therefore, the sodium
outlet temperature in each loop can be regulated by the loop
feedwater flow, which is controlled by the loop valve. At the same
time, the sodium temperature in the other loop will be affected and
this effect should be considered in the loop feedwater flow con-
troller design.
The valve opening of branch #1 in the loop 1 is introduced by
2% step increase at 50 s while the valve opening of branch #4 in

Fig. 14. Responses of feedwater flow rate to branch valve disturbances.

 14
P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208
Fig. 15. Responses of sodium temperature to branch valve disturbances.
 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208
Fig. 16. Responses of steam temperature to branch valve disturbances.
the loop 2 is introduced by 2% step decrease at 200 s. The opening
of other valves is unchanged. The system responses are shown in
Figs. 14–16.
The branch #1 feedwater flow rate increases promptly due to
the enlargement in the valve opening at 50 s as shown in Fig. 14.
The branch #2 and #3 feedwater flow has the same trend and
reduces to 13.23 kg/s while the branch #1 feedwater flow settles
at 13.76 kg/s. The feedwater flow in the loop 1 increases by
0.4 kg/s. The feedwater flow rate of loop 2 is slightly reduced.
The branch #4 feedwater flow rate decreases promptly due to
the reduction in the valve opening at 200 s. The branch #5 and
#6 feedwater flow has the same trend and rises to 13.48 kg/s while
the branch #4 feedwater flow settles at 12.95 kg/s. The feedwater
flow rate of loop 1 is slightly increased.
The sodium outlet temperature of branch #1 reduces by 3.5 °C
for the increase in the feedwater flow while the sodium tempera-
ture of branch #2 and #3 rises by 1.5 °C. The sodium outlet tem-
perature in the loop 2 is slightly increased. After 200 s, the
sodium temperature of branch #4 rises by 4.1 °C due to the
decrease in the feedwater flow while the sodium temperature of
branch #5 and #6 reduces by 1.2 °C. The steam outlet temperature
of branch #1 reduces by 8.1 °C for the increase in the feedwater
flow while the steam temperature of branch #2 and #3 rises by
2.2 °C. The steam outlet temperature of branch #4 rises by 5.9 °C
due to the decrease in the feedwater flow while the steam temper-
ature of branch #5 and #6 reduces by 2.3 °C.
The changes in the feedwater flow and sodium temperature of
the branch #1 are larger than those of the branch #2 and #3.
Therefore, the branch sodium outlet temperature can be regulated
by the branch feedwater flow, which is controlled by the branch
valve opening. If there are some differences in the branch sodium
temperature of loop 1, the branch valve can be adjusted to elimi-
nate the unbalance among different branches. At the same time,
the sodium temperature in the other branches will be affected
and this effect should be considered in the branch feedwater flow
controller design. The influence of changes in the branch valve
opening in loop 1 to the braches in loop 2 is small.
15
5. Conclusions
A dynamic model is developed for a feedwater system with
multi once-through steam generators in a SFR. The steam gen-
erator model consists of the evaporator and superheater models.
Moving boundary method is applied for the evaporator and four
regions are divided: subcooled region, nucleate boiling region,
film boiling region and superheated region. In the superheater
model, fixed boundary method is adopted. The pressure drop
model is constructed to calculate the pressure drop of the
steam generator and pipelines. The parallel channel model is
used to compute the feedwater flow distribution among differ-
ent channels. Feedwater pump and valve models are also
included.
Steady-state calculations are performed. The steady-state
results are compared with those obtained from a thermal-
hydraulic design code and design parameters of the steam genera-
tor. The temperature distribution of the steam generator agrees
well. The errors are small enough. Transient simulations are car-
ried out by introducing step perturbations at its inputs one at a
time. The dynamics of the outputs are summarized and analyzed.
The sodium outlet temperature is significantly influenced by the
feedwater flow rate and sodium flow rate. Therefore, in the future
controller design the feedwater flow rate can be used to control the
sodium outlet temperature. The influence from the sodium flow
rate needs to be compensated. Transient simulation is also carried
out for unsymmetrical conditions. The results are studied and they
are of great importance for the controller design. Thus, the model
can be used to study the feedwater control system under unsym-
metrical conditions.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
16 P. Sun, X. Zhang / Annals of Nuclear Energy 138 (2020) 107208

Acknowledgements
This project is financially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11875215) and the China
Institute of Atomic Energy.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107208.
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