A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF WIND ON THE AIR INTAKE FLOW-RATE OF A COOLING-TOWER .3. NUMERICAL STUDY

During the winter months, cooling towers operating in western Canada m ay experience strong winds and subfreezing temperatures. This conditio n can lead to large ice formations at the windward intake. Part 1 of t his study demonstrated that wind will cause a dramatic increase in air flow through the windward intake, which may partially account for the increased ice formation at the windward intake. Part 2 examined the u se of protective wind walls to reduce the windward intake flow rate. T he present study focuses on a two-dimensional finite-volume model of t he flow over a cooling tower. The cooling tower structure is implement ed in the form of internal boundaries. Predictions with the protective wind wall are also made in the present study. Although the results ar e preliminary, the computational code also shows the wind to have a si gnificant effect on the cooling tower intakes.