A fast，reliable and integrated communication system plays a key role in realizing a smart distribution grid.Based on an analysis of the currently used distribution automation communication system，modeling is performed for the smart distribution grid communication demand and the traffic flow and an IP-based smart distribution communication architecture is proposed.A simulation model of the smart distribution grid communication system is developed using the electric power and communication synchronizing simulator（EPOCHS）platform.The communication interaction procedure of a generic object-oriented substation event（GOOSE）based feeder automation algorithm is studied by simulation under the multiple data streams business condition.Simulation results show that the communication architecture proposed meets the communication demand of the smart distribution grid.