Impact mechanism of different fill layout patterns on the cooling performance of the wet cooling tower with water collecting devices

This paper deals with the impact mechanism of different fill layout patterns on the cooling performance of the wet cooling tower with water collecting devices (WCTWCD). A 3D numerical model for the WCTWCD is established and validated. The non-uniform layout fill for the WCTWCD is firstly proposed and analyzed. The differences of the performance parameters caused by the different fill layout patterns are studied. Studies in the paper indicate that the uniform layout fill is not the best layout pattern for the WCTWCD. The non-uniform layout fill can enhance the tower cooling performance in both windless and crosswind conditions. To evaluate the ventilation uniformity inside the tower the circumferential coefficient and the radial coefficient are proposed by the author. The air flow field in the tower with non-uniform layout fill is more stable and uniform. The coupling of the air flow field and the fill consumption in the tower with non-uniform layout fill is more reasonable. At last the comparison of the non-uniform layout fill between the conventional wet cooling tower (CWCT) and the WCTWCD is presented. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.