A 3D CFD model of a natural draft wet-cooling tower

A 3D CFD model of a natural draft wet-cooling tower is presented in this paper. The model encompasses both the interior of the tower as well as the surrounding air. The developed CFD model is supplied with a low dimensional representation of the heat and mass exchanger, whose purpose is to determine the heat and mass rejected from the cooled water to the air. The representation is based on an original technique called the proper orthogonal decomposition. Due to the large scale differences, application of a low-dimensional heat and mass transfer model allowed reducing the computational time and accurately predict the heat and mass rejection effects. The Euler-Euler multiphase model was used to calculate the flow, heat and mass transfer in the rain zone. The model can be used in both, design computations as well as performance tests of natural draft wet-cooling towers. The effects of wind on the cooling tower can be taken into account. The CFD model was developed using the commercial code Fluent.