不同沉降条件下大型熔盐储热罐的性能与运行安全评估

Abstract Molten salt thermal storage tanks play a critical role in ensuring the stability of power output in concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. However, in recent years, multiple incidents involving molten salt tanks have occurred, resulting in substantial economic losses. The majority of these accidents were caused by uneven settlement of the tank foundation. The study developed a thermal–mechanical coupled physical model for analyzing the mechanical behavior of a thermal storage tank under various abnormal settlement conditions, based on a 100 MW tower-type molten salt thermal power unit located in the Middle East. To evaluate the tank’s performance under conditions that closely resemble actual operating scenarios, settlement inversion was conducted using real-world settlement data, combined with response surface methodology and multi-objective optimization techniques. The results indicate that annular settlement has a relatively minor impact on tank operation; under all annular settlement conditions. In contrast, local uneven settlement posed the greatest threat to the tank bottom, with a maximum stress of 166.63 MPa observed under Condition C6. Compared with actual data, the Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) demonstrated superior inversion accuracy over the single-objective method, with errors within 5 %. Under the inverted settlement condition, the maximum tank stress increased by approximately 35 MPa compared to the normal condition, and the tank’s fatigue life was reduced to 25.8 years. Among the three abnormal settlement scenarios analyzed, the inversion-based method provided a more realistic representation of the tank’s actual operational condition.