Transient Thermal Modelling of Heat Recovery Steam Generators in Combined Cycle Power Plants

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
Int. J. Energy Res. 2007; 31:1047–1063

Published online 22 January 2007 in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/er.1297
Transient thermal modelling of heat recovery steam generators

in combined cycle power plants
Sepehr Sanaye*,y and Moein Rezazadeh

Energy Systems Improvement Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department, Iran University of Science and Technology
(IUST), Narmak, Tehran 16844, Islamic Republic of Iran
SUMMARY
Heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) is a major component of a combined cycle power plant (CCPP).
This equipment is particularly subject to severe thermal stress especially during cold start-up period.
Hence, it is important to predict the operational parameters of HRSGs such as temperature of steam,
water, hot gas and tube metal of heating elements as well as pressure change in drums during transient and
steady-state operation. These parameters may be used for estimating thermal and mechanical stresses
which are important in HRSG design and operation.
In this paper, the results of a developed thermal model for predicting the working conditions of HRSG
elements during transient and steady-state operations are reported. The model is capable of analysing
arbitrary number of pressure levels and any number of elements such as superheater, evaporator,
economizer, deaerator, desuperheater, reheater, as well as duct burners.
To assess the correct performance of the developed model two kinds of data verification were performed.
In the first kind of data verification, the program output was compared with the measured data collected
from a cold start-up of an HRSG at Tehran CCPP. The variations of gas, water/steam and metal
temperatures at various sections of HRSG, and pressure in drums were among the studied parameters.
Mean differences of about 3.8% for temperature and about 9.2% for pressure were observed in this data
comparison. In the second kind of data verification, the steady-state numerical output of the model was
checked with the output of the well-known commercial software. An average difference of about 1.5% was
found between the two latter groups of data. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS: heat recovery steam generator (HRSG); thermal analysis; transient modelling
1. INTRODUCTION
The higher efficiency of combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) in comparison with Brayton or
Rankine cycle has made this form of power generation quite attractive. Since damage from
*Correspondence to: Sepehr Sanaye, Energy Systems Improvement Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16844, Islamic Republic of Iran.
y
E-mail: sepehr@iust.ac.ir
Received 22 May 2006

Revised 22 November 2006
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 29 November 2006
1048 S. SANAYE AND M. REZAZADEH
cycling occurs mainly during start-up and shutdown intervals, it is very important to follow the
correct start-up and shutdown procedures. Correct procedures reduce the magnitude of the
temperature and pressure gradients in heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) components,
avoiding high thermal stress. Therefore, a correct operation program extends the useful life of
HRSG.
The HRSG transient analysis allows designers and manufacturers to better predict the
impact of intended plant operational scenarios on the longer life cycle of the heating elements
and to develop the best operational scenarios of HRSG. For the life cycle analysis, the steam,
gas and metal temperatures during transient operation are used to determine temperature
gradients in the HRSG components which are most susceptible to thermal and mechanical
cycling-related damage. High-pressure parts of HRSG and heating elements which are exposed
to high temperature gas are considered as the critical parts in design and manufacturing,
therefore, the rate of temperature increase in high-pressure superheaters and evaporator which
causes thermal stress is the most important parameter in design, operating and HRSG life cycle.
The results of the transient analysis may also be used as input data in finite element models to
determine the impact of various transient plant operational scenarios on the potential of fatigue
damage to boiler heating elements.
For a modern combined-cycle power plant, typically three different start-up scenarios are
defined:
* Cold start}more than 48 h since the gas turbine was last synchronized.
* Warm start}between 8 and 48 h since the gas turbine was last synchronized.
* Hot Start}less than 8 h since the gas turbine was last synchronized.
A cold start-up usually takes place after gas turbine inspection/overhaul, which normally
happens once a year. During the cold start-up due to the change in gas turbine load, hot gas
mass flow rate and temperature flowing into HRSG, hot gas temperature distribution in HRSG
elements and the pressure in drums change with time. This is a dynamic situation for an HRSG
which is analysed in this paper.
There are various authors such as Walter and Linzer (2004) who studied the flow stability in
natural circulation HRSGs as well as Schmidt and Arnold (2002) who described the necessary
measurement points for proper HRSG testing. Dechamps (1995) proposed a model for
predicting the transient operation of HRSG focusing on transient thermal modelling of the
entire HRSG as a whole system. In his model, various elements of a vertical flow HRSG were
replaced by equivalent heat exchangers. An equivalent heat exchanger had the same heat
transfer surface area and the same mass of tube metal as of the real HRSG elements. This heat
exchanger was then divided into a number of differential elements for applying the mass and
energy conservation equations. The set of simultaneous equations were finally solved to provide
the transient temperature distribution in HRSG. Pasha (1992) and Jolly et al. (1994) also
explained the HRSG start-up effects and constraints in HRSG thermal modelling, as well as
Kim et al. (2000) who used transient mass and energy conservation equations for high-pressure
superheater or evaporator in a horizontal flow HRSG to get the variation of parameters of
interest during cold start-up. Thermal modelling of HRSG in transient operation mode was also
performed by Sanaye and Moradi (2001, 2002, 2003), and Sanaye and Razazadeh (2006). The
numerical output of the final developed version of their model is presented here.
In this paper, the transient gas, water/steam and tube metal temperature variations of heating
elements in an HRSG, as well as the pressure change in drums are studied. To validate the
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Energy Res. 2007; 31:1047–1063
DOI: 10.1002/er
TRANSIENT THERMAL MODELLING OF HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS 1049
numerical results of the developed model, the data were compared with the corresponding
numerical values of the actual measurements collected at Tehran CCPP during the cold start-up
(transient operation mode), as well as with the output of a commercial software (Thermoflow
Inc., 2002) in steady-state operation mode.
Acceptable closeness was found in the above data comparisons.
As a summary, the followings are the contribution of this paper in the field:
* Providing the relations, variables, the typical values of parameters and appropriate
explanations for a special method of HRSG transient thermal modelling.
* The mathematical and physical explanation of the method for solving the specific form of
transient conservation equations using appropriate steady state-steady flow (SSSF) and
uniform state-uniform flow (USUF) control volumes. Also explaining the initial condition
and many other complicated points in HRSG, cold start-up.
* Presenting the numerical output of the explained transient model for the shown HRSG and
computing change in gas, water/steam temperature, pressure and flow in all HRSG
elements.
* Comparing the numerical output of the model with the actual measurements at a real
power plant. Also comparing the steady-state numerical results of the presented model
with the corresponding data obtained from commercial software.
* Providing an analytical method of finding the numerical values of time steps in performing
computations. Also comparing the step size values obtained from analytical and numerical
results for the presented model.
* Performing error analysis and predicting the run time by choosing the various step size
values for the presented model.
* Reporting the capabilities of the in-house developed software.
2. ASSUMPTIONS AND GOVERNING EQUATIONS
’ g Þ after passing an HRSG component is expressed as

The flue gas energy reduction rate ðQ
follows:
’g ¼m
Q ’ g ðhg1 hg2 Þð1 Kloss Þ ð1Þ
where m’ g indicates the flue gas mass flow rate and (hg1hg2) is the gas enthalpy reduction. It was
assumed that a part of hot gas energy was lost through HRSG casing (about 2% as the typical
value for Kloss).
Also gas energy reduction rate is equal to heat transfer between gas and an HRSG element
’ g ¼ Uo Ao ðT% g T% m Þ
Q ð2Þ
where Uo represents the gas side heat transfer coefficient (including convection and radiation
effects) and Ao is the outer heat transfer surface area.
’ g is absorbed by the tube wall (Q
Q ’ m ; Equation (4)), fins (Q
’ f ; Equation (5)) as well as steam in
superheaters, water in economizers and the mixture of steam and water in evaporator tubes
’ sw ; Equation (7)) as is shown in the following equation:
(Q
Q ’mþQ
’g ¼Q ’f þQ
’ sw ð3Þ
DOI: 10.1002/er
At the beginning of the start-up during which there is no steam production, the numerical value
’ sw is zero in superheaters since only tube walls and fins are energy absorbers.
for Q
The rate of energy absorbed by the metal of HRSG heating element ðQ ’ m Þ is expressed as
e i
’ m ¼ Mm cm ðTm Tm Þ
Q ð4Þ
Dt
’ f Þ is
Also the rate of energy absorbed by fins ðQ
e i
Q’ f ¼ Mf cf ðTf Tf Þ ð5Þ
Dt
where M and c in Equations (4) and (5) represent mass and specific heat, respectively. Equation
(6) predicts an average value for the fin temperature.
Tf ¼ Tsw þ 0:3ðTg Tsw Þ ð6Þ
where Tg, Tf and Tsw are the gas, fin and steam/water temperatures, respectively.
The absorbed energy by steam or water ðQ ’ sw Þ can be estimated by the following equations:
Q’ sw ¼ ðQ
’ out Q
’ in Þ þ Q
’ accum Q
’ bd ð7Þ
where Q ’ in are the rate of energy flowing in and out of an HRSG heating element as
’ out and Q
explained below
’ out ¼ m
Q ’ sw;out hsw;out ð8Þ
’ in ¼ m
Q ’ sw;in hsw;in ð9Þ
where m ’ sw denotes the mass flow rate of steam or water while hsw;out and hsw;in refer to the
enthalpy of outlet and inlet flows.
Q’ accum is the energy accumulation inside a heating element which is produced by the change in
temperature and mass of steam/water with time and is computed by relation (10)
e e i i e e i i
Q’ accum ¼ ðMst ust Mst ust Þ þ ðMwt uwt Mwt uwt Þ ð10Þ
Dt Dt
where u stands for internal energy and Dt represents the time step. Superscripts e and i refer to
the end and the beginning of a time step.
During the transient operation of an HRSG, due to slow energy variation during a time
interval in a heating element which is a control volume, SSSF process ðdEcv =dt ¼ 0Þ was applied
for the gas flow, as well as the water or steam flow in economizers and superheaters. However,
due to large mass of water/steam mixture in evaporator and drum, and the high rate of energy
variation due to boiling, USUF process was considered in the mass and energy analysis.
Subsequently Q ’ accum in Equation (10) was set equal to zero for single phase flow (including gas/
water/steam flows). However, for analysing two-phase flow in evaporators and drums, the
numerical value of Q ’ accum was computed from Equation (10).
’
Qbd describes the amount of energy loss in drum due to blow down to keep the water inside
the drum chemically balanced. The blow down mass flow rate was considered to be about 1% of
water mass flow rate entering the drum and was evaluated by
Q’ bd ¼ m
’ bd hwt;bd ð11Þ
where hwt,bd denotes the enthalpy of saturated water in the drum.
DOI: 10.1002/er
To estimate the heat transfer rate between tube walls and steam/water, Equation (12) was
used
Q’ sw ¼ Ui Ai ðT% m T% sw Þ ð12Þ
where Ui is the overall heat transfer coefficient computed based on the inner heat transfer
surface area (Ai).
The equations for estimating the overall heat transfer coefficients (U ) and radiation heat
transfer are available in the mentioned references (ESDU, 1968, 1986; Collier and Thome, 1994;
Kreith, 1998). For pressure drop relations, ESDU Item 84016 (1984) was referred to.
The mass conservation relation inside the drum and evaporator is
dðMwt þ Mst Þ
’ wt;in m
¼m ’ st;out ð13Þ
dt
where Mwt and Mst are the water and steam mass in evaporator, respectively. m’ wt;in indicates
the water mass flow rate entering the evaporator and is estimated by Equations (14) and (15)
and m’ st;out is the mass flow rate of the steam flowing out of the drum and is computed by
Equation (16).
deðtÞ
m’ wt;in;tþDt ¼ m
’ wt;t þ Kp eðtÞ þ Kd ð14Þ
dt
eðtÞ ¼ WLpre WLðtÞ ð15Þ

In Equation (14), Kp and Kd are related to the HP and IP drum water level control system. The
numerical values of these parameters were obtained from the plant technical documents, equal
to 180 kg m1 s1 and 9200 kg m1, respectively. In Equation (15), WLpre is the appropriate
water level specified by the manufacturer for HP and IP drums. In Tehran CCPP, WLpre is zero
for HP and IP drums. Zero for water level corresponds to the drum centre line. Water level for
DA drum is set to þ560 mm above the centre line due to its duty for feeding other elements.
Equation (16) was applied based on the assumption of considering the steam exit passage as a
nozzle (Bartlett, 1958)
Kst Psw
m’ st;out ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð16Þ
Tsw
where Tsw and Psw are the saturation temperature and pressure in the drum and m ’ st;out is the
steam mass flow rate out of drum at the steady-state operation. Kst was estimated 0.101 and
0.303 for HP and IP drums, respectively. During steam production, an empirical diagram
(Lokshin et al., 1988) was used to correlate the water level in drums, with the amount of increase
in volume of steam bubbles inside water.
The mentioned governing equations constructed a set of nonlinear equations which were
solved by forward finite difference method to get temperature of gas, tube wall and water/steam
at the end of each time interval.
To simplify solving the governing equations, the following points were considered:
1. In each time interval, enthalpy and thermo-physical properties of gas and steam/water
were computed based on the average temperature in a time step.
2. There was no heat accumulation in HRSG duct, economizers and superheaters (as a
’ accum was set equal to zero in Equation (7).
control volume) during a time interval, therefore Q
DOI: 10.1002/er
Numerical evaluation of terms in Equation (10) showed that Q ’ accum was negligible in
comparison with Q ’ out and Q
’ in in Equation (7) during a time step (SSSF process). However,
due to large mass of water/steam mixture in evaporator and drum and the high rate of
energy variation due to boiling, the numerical values of heat accumulation computed from
Equation (10) were comparable with the corresponding numerical values of other terms in
Equation (7) during a time step (USUF process).
Two following initial conditions were also applied:

(a) At the beginning of the start-up period during which the temperature of fluid inside the
evaporator was less than saturation temperature, there was no vapour production, so the
evaporator tube walls as well as water, absorbed the energy of the hot gas. Furthermore,
due to no vapour production in drums at the beginning of start-up period, there was no
water flow in economizers. Hence, internal energy (u) was used in Equations (8) and (9)
instead of enthalpy (h), considering economizers as a control mass, instead of a control
volume.
(b) In the cold start-up analysis, the tube wall initial temperature was the ambient
temperature.
The enthalpy and thermo-physical properties of hot gas mixture entering HRSG were
obtained from in-house developed software. Steam and water thermodynamic properties in
superheat, saturated and subcooled regions as well as transport properties (thermal conductivity
and viscosity) at various sections of HRSG were obtained from in-built database (International
Formulation Committee (IFC), 1986).
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
To assess the performance of the developed transient thermal model, two kinds of data
verification were performed.
Regarding the first kind of data verification, model numerical output was compared with the
corresponding actual measured values obtained for the cold start-up of an HRSG at Tehran
CCPP (Tehran CCPP, 2004). The measured data were collected during the HRSG start-up using
the own Tehran CCPP instruments. The data were recorded for 53 chosen points of HRSG in
each 3 min.
The geometric specifications of this HRSG are given in Table I. The diameter, thickness,
length and pitch of tubes, also the geometry and weight of fins and drums are included in the
given data. This power plant has four 100 MW gas turbine at site condition (90 kPa and 303 K
ambient pressure and temperature). It has also four HRSGs consisting of HP drum, IP drum
and deaerator which their pressure were 60, 6 and 2 bar, respectively.
The arrangement of HRSG heating elements at Tehran CCPP is shown in Figure 1 and
Table II. The high-pressure part of HRSG includes high temperature and low temperature
superheaters and two economizers.
Figure 2 shows the variation of gas mass flow rate entering HRSG with time. During the cold
start-up, the gas turbine load was increasing (gas turbine was in the load increasing mode).
Thus, the gas turbine exit mass flow rate and temperature were increasing during the HRSG
DOI: 10.1002/er
Table I. Weight and geometric data of HRSG elements at Tehran CCPP as the input to the developed model.
Item HPHT HPLT HP HP I IP IP HP II IP DA.
Superheater Superheater Evaporator Economizer Superheater Evaporator Economizer Economizer Evaporator
Tubes Staggered Staggered Staggered Staggered Staggered Staggered Staggered Staggered Staggered
arrangement
Tube 50.8 50.8 50.8 50.8 50.8 50.8 50.8 50.8 50.8
diameter (mm)
Tube 4.2 4.2 2.9 4.7 2.9 2.9 4.7 3.2 3.2
thickness (mm)
Tube 15.3 15.3 15.3 15.3 15.3 15.3 15.3 15.3 15.3
Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

length (m)
Long. tube 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101
pitch (mm)
Trans. tube 114 114 114 114 114 114 114 114 114
pitch (mm)
Number of rows 2 4 18 12 2 12 4 1 4
Number of tubes 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 58
per row
Number of fins 197 197 197 197 N.A. 197 197 197 197
per meter
Fin height (mm) 15 15 19 19 N.A. 19 19 19 19
Fin thickness (mm) 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 N.A. 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25
Weight of fins (kg) 11 739 23 477 1 41 945 94 630 N.A. 95 730 31 543 7886 31 543
Weight of 12 802 25 604 98 415 76 812 12 802 65 610 25 604 6410 18 510
tubes, etc. (kg)
Metal cp 0.478 0.478 0.5434 0.5434 0.5434 0.5434 0.5434 0.5434 0.5434
(kJ kg–1 K1)
Metal k 36.86 36.86 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
(W m1 K1)
Drum volume (m3) } } 22.4 } } 15.1 } } 41.9
Drum weight (kg) } } 45 232 } } 5537 } } 16 376
TRANSIENT THERMAL MODELLING OF HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS
1053
Int. J. Energy Res. 2007; 31:1047–1063

DOI: 10.1002/er
Figure 1. The arrangement of HRSG elements at Tehran CCPP.
Table II. Tehran CCPP HRSG elements.

Tehran CCPP HRSG elements
HPHT SH. High pressure high temperature superheater
HPLT SH. High pressure low temperature superheater
HP Eva. High pressure evaporator
HP Eco.1 High pressure economizer (1)
IP SH. Intermediate pressure superheater
IP Eva. Intermediate pressure evaporator
HP Eco.2 High pressure economizer (2)
IP Eco. Intermediate pressure economizer
DA. Eva. Deaerator evaporator
DA Eco. Deaerator economizer
start-up transient mode of operation, as they were shown in Figures 2 and 3. Only about 80 min
after start-up, the gas turbine was allowed to reach the full load. The mass flow rate of hot gas
during start-up period was controlled by a diverter damper at the HRSG entrance to avoid
damages resulting from high thermal stress acting on the elements. Based on the procedure
explained in start-up operation manual of Tehran CCPP, only 30% of the turbine exhaust gas
flowed into the HRSG at first until the HP drum pressure reached 10 bar. At this moment,
diverter damper let 60% of turbine exhaust gas mass flow rate pass through HRSG. After HP
drum pressure increased to 25 bar, diverter damper allowed 80% of the turbine exhaust gas
mass flow rate to enter the HRSG. When HP drum pressure reached about 45 bar, diverter
damper opened completely and all the gas turbine exhaust flowed over HRSG heat transfer
elements.
Figure 3 shows the variation of HRSG inlet gas temperature with time which was recorded at
Tehran CCPP. Figures 4–6 show the variation of the computed values of hot gas temperature
with the corresponding measured ones at various sections in HRSG at Tehran power plant.
DOI: 10.1002/er
450
Gas mass flow rate (kg/s)

400
350
300
250
200
150
m.gas (kg/s)
100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 2. Variation of hot gas mass flow rate entering HRSG with opening the diverter damper and time.
800
700
Temp. (K)
600
500
400
Meas.
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 3. Variation of hot gas temperature entering HRSG (Tg1) with time.
Figure 3 also shows increase in the hot gas temperature entering HRSG with time. The same
rate of increase in gas temperature was also observed in gas temperature variations at the exit of
heating elements in the front of HRSG (HPHT SH. and HPLT SH.) as is shown in Figures 3
and 4. This behaviour occurred due to the fact that at initial time steps, there was no steam flow
inside tubes and tube wall was the only energy absorber that resulted in high rate of hot gas
temperature increase at initial time steps. However, when the hot gas passed over the evaporator
there was a considerable amount of energy absorption by water-filled tubes, which caused the
gas temperature rise after about 20 min delay (Figure 5).
When the steam pressure in HP drum reached about 45 bar, the saturated steam was allowed
to enter the steam turbine. Due to the steam flow out of HP drum, the pressure in this drum
became approximately constant for a while (Figure 12). Furthermore, HP drum steam outlet
and economizer water mass flow rate increased in this period. Increase in economizer water
mass flow rate decreased the gas temperature leaving HP Eco.1 (Figure 6). After about 80 min
when the HP drum pressure reached about 45 bar, the diverter damper was completely open
with the maximum amount of hot gas mass flow rate passing over the tube bundles (Figure 2).
DOI: 10.1002/er
700
600
Temp. (K)
500
400
Cal.
Meas.
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 4. Variation of hot gas temperature at the exit of HPLT SH. (3) with time.
600
550
500
Temp. (K)
450
400
350 Cal.
Meas.
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 5. Variation of hot gas temperature at the exit of HP Eva. (4) with time.
At that time the gas turbine exhaust temperature was increasing (Figure 3). These conditions
caused gas temperature increase in HPLT SH. and HP Eva. with time (Figures 4 and 5).
Variation of metal temperature of elements in HRSG is shown in Figure 7. In this figure metal
temperature tends to stabilize at the middle time of start-up. But as is shown in Figure 3, the
inlet hot gas temperature was increasing at the minute of about 90. This effect increases the
superheater metal temperature sharply.
Figures 8–11 illustrate the variation of water/steam temperature with time. Steam did not
enter superheaters until specified pressures were reached in drums. These specific pressure values
were 3 and 10 bar for IP and HP drums, respectively. However, sensors showed some numerical
values as tube inside temperature when there was no steam flow in superheaters illustrated in
Figures 8 and 10. In these figures some parts of computed results are missing due to the fact that
computing steam temperature at superheaters outlet started just after flowing steam into
superheaters.
DOI: 10.1002/er
550
500
Temp. (K)
450
400
350
Cal.
Meas.
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 6. Variation of hot gas temperature at the exit of HP Eco.1 (5) with time.
800
700
Temp. (K)
600
500
400 Cal.
Meas .
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 7. Variation of metal temperature at the HPHT SH. with time.
750
700
650
600
Temp. (K)
550
500
450
400
Cal.
350
Meas .
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 8. Variation of steam temperature at the HPHT SH. outlet with time.
DOI: 10.1002/er
600
550
500
Temp. (K)
450
400
350 Cal.
Meas .
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 9. Variation of steam temperature at the HP Eva. outlet with time.
530
480
Temp. (K)
430
380
330 Cal.
Meas
280
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 10. Variation of steam temperature at the IP SH. outlet with time.
450
400
Temp. (K)
350
Cal.
Meas .
300
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 11. Variation of water temperature at the IP Drum inlet with time.
DOI: 10.1002/er
The mean difference values between numerical output and experimental data were found to be
3.8% for temperature and 9.2% for pressure during the start-up period. The maximum amount
of difference between numerical and experimental values of gas temperature (in transient mode)
was about 15%. The difference values were smaller at starting and ending periods (steady-state
mode) in comparison with ones obtained in the middle time intervals. The main reason of
existing difference between two groups of data was the rapid change of parameter values in the
middle time intervals. The size of HRSG is big and the number of installed sensors in one
section of this device was just one (and in some special cases two). Therefore, detecting the mean
value of parameters during transient mode was accompanied with larger errors. Also the
sensors’ time lag in detecting the rapid temperature or pressure change was another main reason
of the bigger difference between numerical and experimental results in the middle time intervals.
The latter error decreased as the steady-state condition approached.
It should be added that the slope of temperature and pressure variation with time which is
related to the imposing thermal stress was approximately the same for both numerical and
experimental results.
The variations of HP and IP drum pressures were also illustrated in Figures 12 and 13. The
drum pressure is an important parameter in estimating stress and strain during cold start-up. At
about 85 min after start-up, the IP drum pressure increased slightly (Figure 13). The reason was,
increase in gas mass flow rate (Figure 2) and temperature (Figure 3) entering HRSG as
explained before. This behaviour reduced the gas temperature leaving IP Eva. and therefore IP
drum pressure (Figure 13).
Regarding the second group of data verification, the numerical output in steady-state
condition was compared with the results of well-known commercial software. That is a
computer program for designing, modelling, and analysis of steam, gas and CCPPs in steady-
state mode using mass and energy conservation equations.
Steady-state condition occurs when there is no change in gas turbine load and HRSG
operating parameters. This situation occurs at the end of the HRSG cold start-up.
Table III shows that there was a good agreement between two groups of results. An average
difference of about 1.5% was found.
7000
6000
5000
Pressure (kPa)
4000
3000
2000
Cal.
1000
Meas .
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 12. Variation of pressure in the HP drum with time.
DOI: 10.1002/er
800
700
600
Pressure (kPa)
500
400
300
200
Cal.
100
Meas.
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Time (min.)
Figure 13. Variation of pressure in the IP drum with time.
Table III. Comparison of the model output with the commercial software results in steady-state condition.
Present work GT MASTER Difference (%)
Gas temperature after HPHT SH., K 732 728 0.6
Gas temperature after HPLT SH., K 699 698 0.2
Gas temperature after HP Eva., K 545 555 1.7
Gas temperature after HP Eco.1, K 483 498 2.9
Gas temperature after IP SH., K 481 496 2.9
Gas temperature after IP Eva., K 431 439 1.8
Gas temperature after HP Eco.2, K 419 426 1.6
Gas temperature after IP Eco., K 417 424 1.6
Gas temperature after DA. Eva., K 404 409 1.1
Steam temperature at HPHT SH. Outlet, K 691 700 1.2
Steam temperature at HPLT SH. Outlet, K 648 652 0.5
Steam temperature at IP SH. Outlet, K 464 461 0.6
Water temperature at HP Drum Inlet, K 542 548 1.0
Water temperature at IP Drum Inlet, K 410 413 0.5
HP drum pressure, bar 58.05 60.02 3.2
IP drum pressure, bar 5.99 5.97 0.2
4. CONSIDERATIONS IN NUMERICAL SOLUTION
For obtaining the above results, the developed software was run for 140 min of HRSG
operation (about 40 min of software run time), while the time step for computation was
considered to be 1 s. Increase in time step from 0.1 to 1 s decreased the run time considerably as
is shown in Figure 14. For time steps bigger than 2 s, no noticeable change was observed in the
running time. The numerical values of 1–1.5 s for time step was found to be the most
appropriate, in achieving both the reasonable run time as well as guarantee for convergence of
results. According to the fact that every transient phenomenon should be characterized by a
time scale, one should estimate an appropriate order of magnitude for the time step to resolve
the fastest disturbances. Following the discussion by Deechamps (1995), and by applying the
DOI: 10.1002/er
14000 9
12000 8.5
10000
Run time (sec.)

8
Error (%)
8000
7.5
6000
7
4000
Run Time
2000 6.5
Error
0 6
0 2 4 6 8 10
Time step (sec.)
Figure 14. Decreasing the run time and increasing the relative error with increasing the time step.
conservation of energy law, as well as considering the flue gas as an ideal gas, then

L @T
’ cp Þ g
ðm ho A DT
u @t
Therefore, the system time constant is ðL=uÞðm ’ cp Þg =ðho AÞ; where m;
’ cp and ho are the flue
gas mass flow rate, specific heat and gas side heat transfer coefficient, respectively. L, u and A are
also the length scale representing the heat exchanger dimension, flue gas velocity and heat
transfer surface area. Substituting the following values for the order of magnitude of the
mentioned parameters, m ’ 1000 kg s1 ; cp 1000 J kg1 K1 ; ho 100 W m2 K1 ; A 10 0
2
00 m ; L 10 m; u 10 m s1 ; the appropriate order of magnitude of the time step (Dt) is 1 s,
which is the value mentioned above and obtained from the numerical computations.
In the range of 1–1.5 s for time step, 1–3% change in mean value of output parameters was
found. The convergence criterion or relative error (the sum of difference of gas, steam and metal
temperature in two consecutive iterations) for obtaining the above results was assumed to be
0.1. The numerical values of 0.01–0.1 were the suitable range for this parameter. Decrease in
relative error with time step is shown in Figure 14.
5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
A model for transient thermal analysis of HRSG was developed. The model output was
compared with actual data obtained from Tehran CCPP in transient start-up mode. Acceptable
closeness was found in this comparison. The model output at the end of transient operation
(during which there was no change in parameter values and HRSG was approximately in
steady-state mode of operation) was also compared with the numerical output of well-known
commercial software. The agreement between these two groups of data was good. In the latter
case the detailed thermal and geometrical data (arrangement and number of elements, tubes and
fins geometry) of Tehran power plant HRSG (Figure 1 and Table I), were used as the input
values to the commercial software.
DOI: 10.1002/er
The developed and proposed transient model is an important tool to check the temporal
temperature and pressure variation in heating elements in an HRSG to evaluate the system
performance as well as to control the thermal and mechanical stresses in various elements.
NOMENCLATURE
A =heat transfer surface area (m2)

c =specific heat (J kg1 K)1
e =deviation of water level from the set point value (mm)
h =enthalpy (J kg1)
Kd =derivative gain of the water level control logic (kg m1)
Kloss =heat loss coefficient (dimensionless)
Kp =proportional gain of the water level control logic (kg m1 s1)
Kst =mass flow parameter (kg K0.5 s1kPa1)
L =length scale (m)
M =mass (kg)
m’ =mass flow rate (kg s1)
P =pressure (kPa)
Q’ =rate of heat transfer (W)
T =temperature (K)
u =flue gas velocity (m s1)
U =overall heat transfer coefficient (W m2 K1)
WL =water level (mm)
Dt =time step (s)
Subscripts
1,2,. . . =sections at HRSG elements

accum =accumulated
bd =blow down
ec =economizer
ev =evaporator
f =fins
g =flue gases
i =inside
in =inlet
m =metal
o =outside
out =outlet
pre =prescribed
sw =steam or water
Superscripts
e =value at the end of the time step

i =value at the beginning of the time step
DOI: 10.1002/er
REFERENCES
Bartlett RL. 1958. Steam Turbine Performance and Economics. McGraw-Hill Book Company: New York.
Collier JH, Thome JR. 1994. Convective Boiling and Condensation (3rd edn). Oxford University Press: London.
Dechamps PJ. 1995. Modelling the transient behaviour of heat recovery steam generators. Journal of Power and Energy
209:265–273.
Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU). 1968. ESDU Items 68006, 68007. ESDU International Ltd: London.
Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU). 1984. ESDU Item 84016. ESDU International Ltd: London.
Engineering Sciences Data Unit (ESDU). 1986. ESDU Item 86022. ESDU International Ltd: London.
International Formulation Committee (IFC). 1986. Thermodynamic Properties of Water and Steam. Edward Arnold:
London.
Jolly S, Gurevich A, Pasha A. 1994. Modelling of start-up behaviour of combined cycle HRSG. 94-GT-370, International
Gas Turbine and Aero-engine Congress, ASME, The Netherlands.
Kim TS, Lee DK, Ro ST. 2000. Dynamic behaviour analysis of a heat recovery steam generator during start-up.
International Journal of Energy Research 24(2):137–149.
Kreith F. 1998. The CRC Handbook of Mechanical Engineering. CRC Press: Florida.
Lokshin VA, Peterson DF, Schwarz AL. 1988. Standard Methods of Hydraulic Design for Power Boilers. Energia
Publishing House: Moscow.
Pasha A. 1992. Combined cycle power plant start-up effects and constraints of the HRSG. 92-GT–376, International Gas
Turbine and Aero-engine Congress, ASME, Germany.
Sanaye S, Moradi A. 2001. Dynamic modelling of horizontal flow heat recovery steam generators. 16th International
Power System Conference, Iran.
Sanaye S, Moradi A. 2002. Development of a new simulation program for combined cycle systems. Proceedings of
ASME TURBO EXPO 2002, The Netherlands.
Sanaye S, Moradi A. 2002. Steady and transient analysis of heat recovery steam generators. 17th International Power
System Conference, Iran.
Sanaye S, Moradi A. 2003. Performance assessment of a transient model for HRSGs in combined cycle power plants.
Proceedings of ASME TURBO EXPO 2003, U.S.A.
Sanaye S, Rezazadeh M. 2006. Thermal modelling of HRSG transient behaviour in combined cycle power plants.
Proceedings of ASME TURBO EXPO 2006, Spain.
Schmidt D, Arnold M. 2002. The model steam turbine: more details about the heat recovery steam generator evaluating
method in a combined cycle plant. Proceedings of ASME TURBO EXPO 2002, The Netherlands.
Tehran CCPP Power Plant Historical Trend Graph Display, 29 November, 2004.
Thermo-flow Inc. 2002. GT PRO &GT MASTER Ver. 10.9.
Walter H, Linzer W. 2004. Flow stability of heat recovery steam generators. Proceedings of ASME TURBO EXPO 2004,
Austria.
DOI: 10.1002/er

Transient Thermal Modelling of Heat Recovery Steam Generators in Combined Cycle Power Plants

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH

Int. J. Energy Res. 2007; 31:1047–1063

Transient thermal modelling of heat recovery steam generators

Sepehr Sanaye*,y and Moein Rezazadeh

Received 22 May 2006

2. ASSUMPTIONS AND GOVERNING EQUATIONS

’ g Þ after passing an HRSG component is expressed as

eðtÞ ¼ WLpre WLðtÞ ð15Þ

Two following initial conditions were also applied:

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Int. J. Energy Res. 2007; 31:1047–1063

Figure 1. The arrangement of HRSG elements at Tehran CCPP.

Table II. Tehran CCPP HRSG elements.

Gas mass flow rate (kg/s)

Figure 7. Variation of metal temperature at the HPHT SH. with time.

Figure 9. Variation of steam temperature at the HP Eva. outlet with time.

Figure 12. Variation of pressure in the HP drum with time.

Figure 13. Variation of pressure in the IP drum with time.

4. CONSIDERATIONS IN NUMERICAL SOLUTION

Run time (sec.)

5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

A =heat transfer surface area (m2)

1,2,. . . =sections at HRSG elements

e =value at the end of the time step

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