A modular, parametric and visual modeling & simulation method for pressurized water reactor

The pressurized water reactor (PWR) is increasingly important for reducing carbon emissions and realizing “carbon neutrality and carbon peaking”, as it is a clean energy source that can be applied on a large scale. The modeling and simulation method is very essential for the PWR research and development. Nevertheless, the conventional modeling and simulation methods are poorly generalized and require high expertise from the researchers. Thus, this paper proposes a modular, parametric and visual modeling and simulation method for PWR, which builds a three-layer simulation model system of basic model library, equipment and control system model library, and system simulation platform. The basic model library includes the point kinetics neutron model, heat structrure model, the fluid model, pump and valve model, etc. The equipment and control system model library consists of the reactor core, pressurizer, U-Tube Steam Generator model, and the control system model, etc. And the system model library is the PWR system simulation platform. Based on MATLAB/Simulink, the modeling can be easily achieved through the drag-and-drop of the proposed model library. Compared with commercial program results, the proposed model is validated, which shows that they are in good agreement, with similar trends and acceptable errors.