Numerical Modeling of Wet Cooling Towers—Part 2: Application to Natural and Mechanical Draft Towers

Abstract

This paper presents several applications of the mathematical model described in Part 1 of the paper. Natural and mechanical draft towers of counterflow and crossflow arrangement have been considered. Predicted thermal performances compare well with the available data from operating towers. The distributions of air velocities, pressure, temperature, moisture fraction, and water temperature have been assessed from the considerations of physical plausibility only, since no experimental data are available for comparison. Some sample parametric computations for a mechanical draft crossflow tower are also presented. The parameters studied are: (a) air travel dimension of fill; (b) aspect ratio of fill; (c) fan power; and (d) atmospheric pressure. The results are self-consistent and demonstrate the applicability of the model as an analysis tool.