Design of an integrated simulation platform and its application to control system for supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle cooled reactor system

The Supercritical CO2 (S-CO2) Brayton cycle-cooled nuclear reactor system is characterized by its high efficiency, small size, and ability to adapt to changes in load swiftly. The use of modern control methods to enhance its stability and efficiency necessitates using a simulation tool that enables their implementation. In this study, an integrated simulation platform, “SCTRAN/CO2-SIMULINK”, is developed and verified. Various control systems are designed, and integral time absolute error is adopted as a performance metric for the analysis. A real-coded genetic algorithm is introduced to optimize the performance. The control system's performance is analyzed by applying linear load-following and abrupt load transients. Analysis of simulation results indicates that the developed platform enables the application of control and optimization methods from MATLAB/SIMULINK to S-CO2 Brayton cycle-cooled nuclear reactor system. Regulation of the inlet pressure of the reactor core is proposed in order to prevent it from pressure-induced strains during the transients.