Field measurement on the three-dimensional thermal characteristics of a single air inlet induced draft cooling tower

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering Vol. 172; p. 115167
• Main Authors: Chen, Xuehong, Sun, Fengzhong, Li, Xin, Song, Huadong, Zheng, Peng, Lyu, Xiaolei, Yan, Lu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 25.05.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Air flow; Air intakes; Air temperature; Cooling; Cooling towers; Crosswind direction; Crosswind velocity; Crosswinds; Draft (gas flow); Field measurement; Heat transfer; Heat transfer coefficients; Numerical analysis; Numerical models; Performance prediction; Rain; Single air inlet induced draft cooling tower; Studies; Temperature; Three dimensional models; Three-dimensional thermal characteristics; Velocity; Water temperature; Wind effects; Field measurement; Crosswind direction; Single air inlet induced draft cooling tower; Three-dimensional thermal characteristics; Crosswind velocity
• ISSN: 1359-4311; 1873-5606
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2020.115167

•Field measurement is conducted on a single inlet induced draft cooling tower.•A 3D numerical model is developed to collaborate with field measurement.•Both velocity and direction of crosswind signally affect tower performance.•Longitudinal vortices near the air inlet weaken tower performance.•Correlations concerning crosswind are fitted for performance prediction. This study introduces the field measurement on a single air inlet induced draft cooling tower (SIDCT) under crosswind conditions. A three-dimensional numerical model is developed and validated to collaborate with the field measurement. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of environmental crosswind (both direction and velocity) on the thermal characteristics of SIDCT, such as air/water ratio, range, approach, Merkel number, heat transfer coefficient, etc. Measurement results demonstrate that as crosswind velocity rises, the ventilation and cooling performance of SIDCT are continuously enhanced under the crosswind directions of α1 and α2, while significantly decreased under α3. As air flows into SIDCT along the depth direction, the air temperature above drift eliminatorsdecreases firstlyandthen increases, which follows a reverse trend to the distribution pattern of air velocity. With the increasing crosswind velocity, the water temperature drop increases in the rain zone under α1 and decreases in the fill zone under α3, while the cooling capacity decreases in the fill zone and increases in the rain zone, regardless of the crosswind direction. The fitted correlations are derived for predicting the performance parameters with respect to crosswind velocity and direction.