EFFECT OF THE FILL VENTILATION WINDOW ON PERFORMANCE OF A NATURAL DRAFT COOLING TOWER SUBJECTED TO CROSS-WINDS

Various aerodynamic design elements and technics (wind deflectors, wind walls, etc.) are utilized for improvement of the thermal efficiency of the natural draft cooling towers, particularly in conditions of cross wind. One of the technical methods, proposed by engineers of Belarus Academy of Sciences, is installation of the ventilation window in the center of the fill. This method is substantiated by the fact that the flow of cooling gas obtains maximum temperature and humidity near the center of the under-fill space of cooling tower and, as a consequence, performs minimal heat exchange. The influence of the fill ventilation window and wind deflectors in the inlet windows of the cooling tower on its thermal performance in condition of cross-wind is investigated in the paper numerically. The cooling tower of the “Woo-Jin” power plant (China) 150 m of the height and 114 m of the base diameter was taken as a prototype. The analogy (equivalence) between the heat and mass transfer was taken into consideration, which enabled us to consider single-phase flow and perform complicated 3D simulation by using modern personal computers. Heat transfer coefficient for the fill and its hydrodynamic resistance were defined by using actual data on total flow rate in the cooling tower. The numerical model and computational methods were tested and verified in numerous previous works. The non-linear dependence of the thermal performance of the cooling tower on wind velocity (with the minimum in vicinity of Ucr ~ 8 m/s for the simulated system) was demonstrated. Calculations show that in the condition of the average wind speed the fill ventilation window doesn’t improve, but slightly decrease (by 3–7 %) performance of the cooling tower. Situation changes in the condition of strong winds Ucw > 12 m/s, which are not typical for Belarus. Utilization of airflow deflectors at the inlet windows of cooling tower, conversely, increases thermal performance of the cooling tower on 10–12 % for the wide range of winds exceeding 2 m/s. Results of the investigation may be helpful for optimal design of natural draft and perspective “hybrid” cooling towers.

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