Role of Mathematical Modeling in Advanced Power Generation Systems

Book excerpt: Energy demands throughout the globe has been increasing and the detrimental effects of carbon emissions on the environment by use of non-renewable resources has impacted life on the planet. The changing climate has caused an increase in natural calamities all over the globe. Many countries in the world have started to produce power using renewable resources like solar, biomass, wind energy, nuclear energy and green fuels. Though there are several technologies for power generation using the above sources, efficient design of these systems still needs lot of research. Mathematical modeling would play a vital role in design of state of the art technologies. Advanced nuclear power plants need special mention since they involve naturally driven safety systems where the complex phenomena of boiling, condensation and thermal stratification take place. These are difficult to model as there is more than one phase coupled with turbulence models, near wall phenomena, coalescence and break up, etc. Scaling up of such systems and their innovative design to reduce stratification requires the help of mathematical modeling. Other opportunities include Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling for design of wind turbines for power generation using wind energy. Power generation from biomass involves use of gasifiers which has complex set of reactions and mostly two or three phases which are difficult to model using CFD at industrial scales.