Decay ratio estimation based on time-frequency representations

A novel method based on bilinear time-frequency representations (TFRs) is proposed to determine the time evolution of the linear stability parameters of a boiling water reactor (BWR) using neutronic noise signals. TFRs allow us to track the instantaneous frequencies contained in a signal to estimate an instantaneous decay ratio (IDR) that closely follows the signal envelope changes in time, making the IDR a measure of local stability. In order to account for long term changes in BWR stability, the ACDR measure is introduced as the accumulated product of the local IDRs. As it is shown in this paper, the ACDR measure clearly reflects major long term changes in BWR stability. Last to validate our method, synthetic and real neutronic signals were used. The methodology was tested on the Laguna Verde Unit 1, two events were reported in the Forsmark stability benchmark. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.