Research for axial power distribution control of a space nuclear reactor based on nonlinear model

Abstract

During the operating process of a space nuclear reactor, once the local overload of heat energy occurs in the core, the corresponding fuel elements would be damaged and the lifespan of the reactor would be seriously reduced. In fact, the heat flux at any point in the core is proportional to the neutron flux density. A sufficiently flat axial neutron flux density distribution can protect the fuel assembly from frequent load changes. It is so clear that the axial power distribution control is crucial for the safe and stable operation of the space nuclear reactor. However, the space nuclear reactor is a distributed parameter system, which brings great challenges to the traditional lumped parameter control methods. In this paper, a distributed parameter control method is proposed to suppress the initial neutron flux peaks and realize the exponential stability of the neutron flux distribution control system. First of all, the spatiotemporal model of the reactor core based on the neutron diffusion equation is established. Then, the stability analysis of the control law for the neutron flux distributed parameter control problem is performed by constructing the Lyapunov function. The optimization technique based on the spatial differential linear matrix inequality is used to approximate the solution of the suboptimal integral control law. The control law is implemented by rotating drum, and the flat distribution of the axial power of the core is realized by the distributed parameter control. Finally, the numerical results are provided to validate the feasibility of the proposed control scheme.