Study of Degradation of Dry Cooling Tower Performance under Wind Conditions and Method for Tower Efficiency Enhancement (RESEARCH NOTE)

Wind affects adversely the cooling tower thermal performance. A field investigation was carried out to study the thermal performance of Heller cooling towers under wind conditions, involving measurement of wind velocity and its direction around the cooling tower, and obtaining water flow rates and temperatures at the cooling tower inlet and outlet. Results show that air suction at the tower top prevents flow separation at tower periphery. Additionally, due to better airflow distribution over the front cooling sectors, perpendicular to wind direction, the thermal efficiency is improved compared to the sectors on the tower periphery, parallel to wind direction, resulting in about 20% more heat transfer. Moreover, the thermal performance of the front sectors improves with increase in the wind velocity, while it decreases with increase in the wind velocity for the periphery sectors and those at the back of the tower.