Publication Cover
Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications
An International Journal of Computation and Methodology
Volume 57, 2010 - Issue 2
306
Views
13
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

CFD Two-Scale Model of a Wet Natural Draft Cooling Tower

, &
Pages 119-137 | Received 09 Apr 2009, Accepted 03 Dec 2009, Published online: 08 Feb 2010
 

Abstract

A 2-D axisymmetric model of multiphase heat, mass, and momentum transfer phenomena in natural draft cooling tower is developed using a CFD code Fluent. The fill of the tower is modeled as a porous medium. The energy and mass sources in this zone are evaluated solving a separate 1-D model of mass and heat exchange. The spatial dependence of the sources is accounted for by dividing the fill into a set of vertical channels. The CFD solver produces boundary conditions for each channel, while the model of the channel exports the heat and mass sources to the CFD solver. To accelerate the calculations, an original technique known as the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is applied. This approach produces a reduced dimensionality model resulting in significant time economy and accuracy loss lower than 2%. The Euler-Euler multiphase model is used in the rain zone. The simulation results have been validated against experimental data coming from field measurements of a large industrial installation.

The work of Adam Klimanek was financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education as a research grant during 2007–2010. The contribution is gratefully acknowledged here.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.