A comprehensive approach to cooling tower design

In this paper, a mathematical model for a counterflow wet cooling tower is derived, which is based on one-dimensional heat and mass balance equations using the measured heat transfer coefficient. Tile balance equations are so lved numerically to predict the temperature change of air and water, as wel l as the humidity as a function of the cooling tower high. Experimental mea surements on two pilot-scale cooling towers were carried out in order to an alyze the performance of different cooling tower filling materials. Also, t he performance of other cooling tower elements, such as droplet separators and water spray nozzles, was investigated in the pilot experiments. The flo w distribution, i.e, the velocity field, upstream to the filling material w as predicted using the three-dimensional version of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code Fluent/UNS, version 4.2. The calculated flow fields ar e presented for different distances between the inlet of the air and the fi lling material, In addition, the two-dimensional version of the CFD code Fl uent/UNS version; 4.2, was applied to predict the external airflow around t he cooling tower and the backflow in different weather conditions in summer and winter. The research project was carried out in connection to an indus trial cooling tower installation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Ail rights reserved.