📊 Chapter 10: Case Studies
From Theory to Practice
Four real-world case studies to put your knowledge into action!
| Case Study | Focus | Tools & Methods |
|---|---|---|
| Air Piston Compressor | Charging compressed air storage with exchanger cooling. | Controller creation, off-design analysis, Wang-Chi-Chang correlation. |
| Refrigeration Machine | Displacement compressor, thermostatic valve, and two-phase heat exchangers. | minPack solver for nonlinear equation systems. |
| Simplified Steam Power Plant | Turbine + heat exchangers under varying conditions. | Stodola’s rule, multi-zone exchanger calculations. |
| Flamanville 3 EPR Turbine | Part-load operation using official EDF data. | External controllers, Stodola law, polytropic efficiency variations. |
Key Outcomes:
- NUSCLE software: A simplified model of water-cooled nuclear power plants (PWR, BWR, RBMK, CANDU).
- Real-world data: Analyze 30-100% load ranges for nuclear turbines.
Why It’s Unique: These studies show how to develop your own models—from simple to complex!
Abstract
This chapter presents four case studies on component sizing and off-design operation with increasing difficulty, demonstrating methodologies for users developing their own models. The first case involves an air piston compressor with exchanger cooling charging a compressed air storage, introducing controller creation and simple off-design analysis using a tube-and-fin heat exchanger with Wang-Chi-Chang correlation. The second case examines the refrigeration machine from Chapter 6, involving displacement compressor, thermostatic valve, and two two-phase heat exchangers whose pressures vary with external conditions, resolved using minPack for nonlinear equation systems. The third case corresponds to a simplified steam power plant with turbine and two heat exchangers, studying performance evolution when varying cooling water temperature, maximum pressure, or superheat temperature also resolved using minPack. The fourth case study differs by presenting data analysis on partial load operation of the Flamanville 3 EPR turbine using detailed official data provided by EDF to French Nuclear Safety Authority. Results demonstrate methodology implementation through external controllers, with both generic and specific versions presented. The refrigeration machine requires solving six coupled nonlinear equations using nested algorithms for constant UA and adjustable U. Steam plant analysis uses Stodola’s rule and multi-zone exchanger calculations. EPR analysis reveals optimal Stodola law formulations, polytropic efficiency variations, and separator performance across 30-100% load range. This data made it possible to develop the NUSCLE software, a simplified model of the thermodynamic cycle of a water-cooled nuclear power plant (WCR type: Water-Cooled Reactor), such as PWRs, BWRs, RBMKs, or CANDUs.