Influence of noise barrier and louver on ventilation and thermal performance of wet cooling towers under crosswind conditions

Aiming at the influence of noise barrier and louver on the thermal performance of wet cooling towers, a three-dimensional numerical model of wet cooling towers was established in this paper. Based on this model, the influence of the noise barrier and louver on ventilation and thermal performance was studied under crosswind conditions (crosswind velocity varies from 0 m/s to 10 m/s and crosswind direction alpha is 0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees). To analyze the influence of noise barrier and louver on the air intake characteristics, the inlet air uniformity coefficient Cff and the effective inlet air velocity v(ave) were defined. Simulation results manifested that the noise barrier increases the internal low wind speed area in the rain zone and the high water temperature area on the collecting basin surface. Compared with the original cooling tower, although the Cff increases, the v(ave) and the cooling capacity contribution of the fillings zone C-F decrease after installing the noise barrier, so the water temperature drop Delta TW decreases. Additionally, the louver can relieve the adverse effect of crosswind on thermal performance, and the Cff, v(ave), C-F, and Delta TW all have an increasing trend under crosswind conditions after installing the louver. The louver can improve remarkably the thermal performance when the crosswind velocity is 6 m/s and alpha = 90 degrees, and compared with the original cooling tower, the Cff, v(ave), C-F, and Delta TW increase by 0.02, 1.33 m/s, 1.33%, 0.31 degrees C, respectively.

Automated summary

The study found that the noise barrier increased the internal low wind speed area and high temperature area of the wet cooling tower, leading to a decrease in cooling capacity contribution.