A Comprehensive Approach To Cooling Tower Design

A comprehensive approach to cooling tower design
Nenad Milosavljevic
*
, Pertti Heikkila
Valmet Corporation, Air Systems, Pansio, FIN-20240 Turku, Finland
Received 7 December 1999; accepted 20 June 2000
Abstract
In this paper, a mathematical model for a counterow wet cooling tower is derived, which is based on
one-dimensional heat and mass balance equations using the measured heat transfer coecient. The balance
equations are solved numerically to predict the temperature change of air and water, as well as the humidity
as a function of the cooling tower high. Experimental measurements on two pilot-scale cooling towers were
carried out in order to analyze the performance of dierent cooling tower lling materials. Also, the per-
formance of other cooling tower elements, such as droplet separators and water spray nozzles, was in-
vestigated in the pilot experiments. The ow distribution, i.e. the velocity eld, upstream to the lling
material was predicted using the three-dimensional version of the computational uid dynamics (CFD)
code Fluent/UNS UNS, version 4.2. The calculated ow elds are presented for dierent distances between the
inlet of the air and the lling material. In addition, the two-dimensional version of the CFD code Fluent/
UNS UNS, version 4.2, was applied to predict the external airow around the cooling tower and the backow in
dierent weather conditions in summer and winter. The research project was carried out in connection to an
industrial cooling tower installation. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cooling tower; Modeling; Computational uid dynamics simulations; Heat transfer; Mass transfer
1. Introduction
Almost every industrial process has some requirement for temperature control. For this reason,
cooling towers are nowadays part of many plant installations. Their operation is based on a
principle where energy is removed from hot water in direct contact with relatively cool and dry air.
In a counterow cooling tower, the process consists of a gas phase (air) owing upwards, a liquid
phase (water lm) owing downwards, and a large interface between the two phases. The key
Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899915
www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +358-20-482-4332; fax: +358-20-482-4663.
E-mail address: nenad.milosavljevic@valmet.com (N. Milosavljevic).
1359-4311/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S1359- 4311( 00) 00078- 8
factors required for intensive heat and mass transfer in a cooling tower are a large air-to-water
interfacial contact area and a high heat-transfer coecient.
The objective of this work was a comprehensive approach to cooling tower design. A mathe-
matical model for a counterow wet cooling tower was derived based on one-dimensional heat
and mass balance equations. The mathematical model was supported with measurements on pilot
cooling towers [1]. Experimental measurements on two pilot-scale cooling towers were carried out
in order to analyze the performance of dierent cooling tower lling materials. Also, the per-
formance of other cooling tower elements, such as droplet separators and water spray nozzles,
was investigated in the pilot experiments.
The comprehensive approach included study of the airow distribution, i.e. the velocity eld,
upstream to the lling material. For this purpose the three-dimensional version of the compu-
tational uid dynamics (CFD) code Fluent/UNS UNS 4.2 was used. Many cooling tower designers
Nomenclature
a pack density, surface per unit volume (m
2
/m
3
)
A area (m
2
)
c
p
specic heat at constant pressure (J/kg K)
c
1
, c
2
, c
3
coecients in Eq. (10)
h enthalpy (J/kg)
Dh
ev
latent heat of evaporation (J/kg)
K mass transfer coecient (kg/m
2
s)
k
1
, k
2
, k
3
coecients in Eq. (11)
Le Lewis factor
_ m mass ow rate (kg/s)
p pressure (Pa)
Q heat transfer rate (W)
r
0
latent heat of evaporation of water at 0C (J/kg)
T temperature (C)
V volume (m
3
)
z vertical distance (m)
Greeks
a convective heat transfer coecient (W/m
2
K)
a
volumetric heat transfer coecient (W/m

3
K)
f humidity (kg
w
/kg
a
)
Subscripts
a air
ma moist air (air and vapor)
s surface
v vapor
w water
900 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899915
neglect the fact that the humid exhaust air, due to dierent weather conditions, may partially be
returned to the system. A cooling tower should be constructed so that this backow of exhaust air
into the tower and its mixing with the suction air are avoided. During summertime the backow is
harmful because of reduced cooling capacity and during wintertime there is the risk of icing. The
same CFD code Fluent/UNS UNS 4.2 was used in its two-dimensional version to predict the external
airow around the cooling tower and the backow in dierent weather conditions in summer and
winter. The research project was connected to a full-scale industrial cooling tower installation. In
the design of the tower the cooling tower simulation program was used. The rst cooling tower
delivery on mill scale was designed and dimensioned for a closure of a water circulation system in
a paper mill in Finland. In spite of the well-known evaporative cooling principle and a number of
dierent mathematical models [25], the comprehensive approach described here is required to be
able to design a reliable, well-operating cooling tower.
2. Mathematical model for the counterow cooling tower
In a counterow cooling tower the process consists of a gas phase (air) owing upwards, a
liquid phase (water lm) owing downwards, and a large interface between these two phases. The
water lm is thin and well mixed. Therefore the water temperature can be assumed constant
through the thickness of the water lm. Convective heat and mass transfer takes place between the
air and water. An analogy between heat and mass transfer is assumed, the Lewis number
Le a=c
p;a
K is assumed to be unity.
The evaporative cooling process occurs at the interface between the water lm and the air
stream. It is very dicult to determine the exact value of the available area for heat and mass
transfer, because it is formed by a falling water lm and also includes an area of separate water
droplets. Thus the volumetric heat transfer coecient is used in the mathematical model. The
value of the volumetric heat transfer coecient strongly depends on the type of packing used in
the tower, and on the water and airow rates.
The energy and mass balances are derived for a volume element dV Adz according to Fig. 1.
An amount of water d _ m
w
is evaporated in the control volume dV . The water ow is cooled by
temperature decrement dT
w
due to the latent heat of evaporation and due to convective heat
transfer. Air humidity is increased by df and air is heated by dT
a
. At the water surface, evapo-
ration can be written as:
d _ m
w

a
c
p
ma
f
s
f
a
dV 1
where f
s
is saturation humidity of air at water temperature T
w
and f
a
is the air humidity in the bulk
airow. The air humidity change in a volume subsection can be written as,
df
a
f
s
f
a
dV
c
p
ma
_ m
a
2
The addition of convective and evaporative heat transfer gives the total heat transfer rate for the
individual control volume,
N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899915 901
dQ
w
a
T
w
_
T
a

a
c
p
ma
f
s
f
a
Dh
ev
T
w
_
dV 3
Considering Fig. 1, the enthalpy balance under steady-state conditions for water and air can be
written as,
_ m
a
h
a
zdz
_ m
a
h
a
z
_ m
w
h
w
zdz
_ m
w
h
w
z
0 4
The rate of energy transferred from the water is equal to the rate of energy gained by air, namely
o _ m
a
h
a
oz
dz
o _ m
w
h
w
oz
dz 5
Both side terms can be expanded into the following forms:
_ m
a
c
p
a
_
_
c
p
v
f
_
oT
a
oz
r
0
_
c
p
v
T
a
_
of
oz
_
dz _ m
w
zc
p
w
oT
w
oz
_
h
w
o _ m
w
oz
_
dz 6
By combining Eqs. (3) and (6), the governing dierential equations for describing cooling tower
performance have been developed. The temperature change in the air in a subsection is,
Fig. 1. A control segment of cooling tower.
dT
a

a
T
w
T
a

a
c
pma
f
s
f
a
Dh
ev
T
w
_ _
dV d _ m
w
r
0
c
p
v
T
a
_ _
_ m
a
c
p
a
f
a
c
p
v
_ _
7
and the water temperature change is given by,
dT
w

a
T
w
T
a

a
c
pma
f
s
f
a
Dh
ev
T
w
_ _
dV c
p
w
T
w
d _ m
w
c
p
w
_ m
w
z
8
where _ m
w
z represents actual water rate and can be dened as
_ m
w
z _ m
w
_ m
a
f
z
_
f
z0
_
9
The cooling tower calculation starts at the bottom where the actual water rate is smaller due to
evaporation. An iterative calculation is needed to determine the value of water rate at the bottom
of the cooling tower _ m
w
and this gradually increases until it becomes the same as the amount of
inlet water at the top.
The set of nonlinear equations can be solved numerically when the initial conditions, tower
dimensions, as well as relations needed to estimate the volumetric heat transfer coecients a
are
known. The RungeKutta method was used for the numerical calculations. A FORTRAN FORTRAN program
was developed for the numerical simulation [6].
3. Experimental investigation
Experiments were carried out on two forced draft counterow pilot towers with cross-section
area of 0.49 and 1.44 m
2
. A schematic of the pilot cooling tower is shown in Fig. 2. The inves-
tigated pilot towers were equipped with lling, a droplet separator and a water distribution
Fig. 2. Pilot cooling tower.
system. The pilot test rig was also equipped with a centrifugal fan for air supply and a bottom
pool for water collecting.
The main objective was to measure the heat and mass transfer coecients and the pressure drop
of the dierent lling materials, and further how these depend on air and mass ow. Only lm-
type lling materials were investigated. The following measurements were implemented in the test
arrangement:
(a) Water parameters: temperature of inlet water T
w
1
(C), temperature of outlet water T
w
2
(C),
water ow rate _ m
w
(kg/s), nozzle water pressure p
w
(Pa).
(b) Air parameters: inlet temperature T
a
1
(C), inlet wet bulb temperature T
wb
1
(C), airow rate
_ m
a
(kg/s), outlet temperature T
a
2
(C), outlet wet bulb temperature T
wb
2
(C).
(c) Cooling tower pressure distribution: static pressure before lling material p
1
(Pa), static pres-
sure after lling material, p
2
(Pa), static pressure before droplet separator, p
3
(Pa), static pres-
sure after droplet separator, p
4
(Pa).
All data were monitored during the measurement, collected with FLUKE HYDRA FLUKE HYDRA 2635A 2635A data
logger, and transferred directly to a PC le. PT-100 sensors were used for temperature mea-
surements. MICOR TT 370S pressure meters were used for measurement of air static pressure and
volume ow. Cooling airow was measured with a measuring ring.
Cooled water was collected into a separated basin, heated with direct steam injection up to
40C and sprayed again into the cooling tower. Plastic nozzles with quadratic spray pattern were
used in order to obtain uniform water distribution across the lling. Mass ow rates of air and
water varied from 2 to 6 kg/m
2
s and 1.9 to 7 kg/m
2
s, respectively. The water inlet temperature
was kept close to 40C. The ranges of the parameters were chosen in such a way to reproduce as
nearly as possible the operational conditions for the real industrial case.
4. Analysis of the experimental results
In the rst pilot tower a wide range of dierent lling materials were investigated, including
dierent uted plates, smooth plates, honeycomb llings etc. (Fig. 3).
Figs. 4 and 5 show the volumetric heat transfer coecient a
and the air-side pressure loss

dp=dz for the dierent lling materials when the airow rate is constant at 3.5 kg/m
2
s and the
water ow rate varies from 2 to 6 kg/m
2
s.
Based on the experimental results, an optimal lling material with a high heat transfer coe-
cients and a low-pressure losses were selected. The objective was to obtain a lling material that
enables a compact cooling tower design with a low space requirement and fan power consump-
tion.
Among all investigated lling materials it was found that type g gives the best combination of
heat transfer and pressure losses. The type g lling was tested on the second pilot cooling tower to
get more accurate and reliable lling characteristics. The cross-section area of the second pilot
tower was 1.44 m
2
and the tower has almost all the characteristics of a real, small-scale industrial
application. The measured transfer data of the given type of lling material were correlated in the
following form:
Fig. 3. Investigated lling material types.
Fig. 5. Comparison of pressure losses through the investigated lling materials.
Fig. 4. Comparison of volumetric heat transfer coecients of the investigated lling materials.
a
c
1
1
_

m
w
A
_ _
C
2
_
m
a
A
_ _
C
3
10
The pressure loss for the given packing was correlated by,
Dp
l
k
1
1
_

m
w
A
_ _
k
2
_
m
a
A
_ _
k
3
11
The parameters of the Eqs. (9) and (10) were determined with nonlinear regression analysis.
5. Design of cooling tower for the real industrial application
The research project was connected to a full-scale industrial cooling tower installation. The
tower was designed to cool 450 kg/s process water from 40C to 22C, and it is planned to run all
year-round in the northern climate. Water quality is an important factor in the selection of the
lling material. In this case the concentration of suspended solids in water was relatively low, <50
mg/l, and a combination of two types of lling material was chosen. At the top of the cooling
tower very ecient (with a large interfacial contact area) type g lling material was placed. An-
tifouling lling material was placed at the bottom to avoid blocking of the lling. The simulation
results of the nal solution for the summer conditions are given in Table 1.
Evaluation of water and air temperature and air humidity through the lling height is shown in
Fig. 6. The top part of the cooling tower lling (0.6 m) was equipped with ecient type g lling
Table 1
Results of the cooling tower simulation
Cooling tower simulation
Tower cross area 180.0 m
2
Fill height 2.4 (0:6 1:8) m
Cooling air
Air mass ow 650.0 kg/s
Initial temperature 25.0C
Initial humidity 0.0100 kg/kg
Initial enthalpy 50.6 kJ/kg
Final temperature 30.7C
Final humidity 0.029 kg/kg
Final enthalpy 105.4 kJ/kg
Process water
Initial mass ow 450.0 kg/s
Initial temperature 40.0C
Final mass ow 437.6 kg/s
Final temperature 21.1C
Pressure drop (ll) 110.7 Pa
Utilized heat (water) 35.7 MW
Utilized heat (gas) 35.7 MW
material. In this zone heat and mass transfer is more intensive and a higher slope of the curves in
Fig. 6 can be observed. The bottom part of the cooling tower lling (1.8 m) was equipped with the
antifouling lling material due to less tendency to foul.
6. Simulation of the airow distribution in the cooling tower
To guarantee good, ecient cooling tower performance it is extremely important that the
airow through the lling is uniform all over the cooling tower area. For successful design, the
construction of the bottom pool and the way the air enters the bottom pool are critical. CFD is
applied for optimizing these variables so that a uniform air distribution is obtained. The com-
putational uid dynamics code used was Fluent/UNS UNS, version 4.2 (three-dimensional/two-di-
mensional). The turbulence model used was standard ke model of Fluent/UNS UNS. Boundary layers
were computed with standard wall functions of Fluent/UNS UNS. Due to symmetry, it was not nec-
essary to simulate the whole tower, and therefore only one module with fan was calculated. The
simulation domain consisted of the supply air fan, inlet cone and bottom pool volume up to the
bottom edge of the lling. The supply air fan was modeled by giving the incoming airow a similar
ow distribution and rotational ow motion as it would be after the actual fan impeller. The
airow was modeled as a single-phase ow, neglecting the inuence of falling water droplets. It
was assumed that the water droplets do not have any signicant inuence on the airow and it
would induce only some pressure loss. The lling material was modeled as an air permeable wall
with constant ow resistance. Fig. 7 shows the cross-section of the simulation domain and the
calculated airow pattern (velocity vectors) for one calculated case.
The main objective of the simulation was to determine the uniformity of the airow just below
the lling material. Critical details in this respect are the operation of the diuser and how the air
enters the basin from the diuser. It is obvious that air velocity should be low enough at the exit of
the diuser, and that the airow should be uniformly distributed across the diuser outlet area.
Fig. 6. Evaluation of water and air temperature and air humidity through the lling height.
Next, there should be enough vertical space from the top edge of the diuser to the bottom of the
lling. Table 2 shows a summary of the simulated construction alternatives.
Figs. 812 show the calculated airow distribution across the lling area in dierent cases. The
air enters from the right side of the diagrams. In the rst three simulations the inuence of the
vertical distance from the top edge of the diuser to the bottom of the lling was found to be
alternatively 0.4, 1.0, or 1.6 m. The simulations indicated a gradual improvement in the air dis-
tribution as the vertical distance was increased.
Furthermore, it was observed that rotational airow caused by the fan impeller led to a
somewhat asymmetric air distribution. In the following simulation (Fig. 11) the possibility to
eliminate this rotational airow was examined. A ow straightener was placed in the end of the
diuser. The results indicated a clear improvement in the ow pattern, but the ow straightener
used in the simulation was not able to reduce the vortex completely.
Table 2
Summary of simulated alternatives
Simulation no. Diuser-lling distance (m) Flow straightener Bell shaped air spreader
1 0.4 No No
2 1.0 No No
3 1.6 No No
4 1.0 Yes No
5 1.0 No Yes
Fig. 7. Airow pattern and velocity vectors (diuser-lling material distance 1000 mm).
Fig. 9. Contours of Y -velocities (diuser-lling material distance 1000 mm).
Fig. 8. Contours of Y -velocities (diuser-lling material distance 400 m).
Fig. 11. Contours of Y -velocities (diuser-lling material distance 1000 mm, ow straightener).
Fig. 10. Contours of Y -velocities (diuser-lling material distance 1600 mm).
All previous simulations indicated that the area just above the diuser exit tends to get less air
than other parts of the tower. Therefore, the next simulation (Fig. 12) was made with a bell-
shaped air spreader placed in the exit of the diuser. With this kind of air spreader, the dierences
in air velocities under the lling material were less than 5%.
7. External airows around the cooling tower
A prerequisite for proper cooling tower operation is that the mixing of exhaust air with suction
air is avoided. However, factors such as unfavorable wind conditions [7], defective process layout
and the inuence of surrounding buildings may cause backow situations. A high vertical distance
between the exhaust and supply intake, and high initial velocity of exhaust air reduce the risk of
backow. The backow of exhaust air is harmful in two respects: rstly, during the warm season
the recirculation of warm humid air reduces cooling capacity, and secondly, during wintertime
backow may cause icing on the air intake equipment and on other surfaces around the cooling
tower.
A series of CFD simulations was made to study the airows around the cooling tower. Dierent
conditions and ow rates of exhaust air, dierent outdoor air temperatures and dierent wind
conditions were investigated. Both summer and winter situations were studied. Table 3 shows a
summary of the simulated process conditions.
Fig. 12. Contours of Y -velocities (diuser-lling material distance 1000 mm, bell-shaped air spreader).
For summer conditions, three simulations were made at dierent wind speeds (1, 4 and 8 m/s)
with maximum cooling capacity and exhaust ow rate. The outdoor air temperature was assumed
25C. For the winter case, in which the outdoor air temperature was 20C, six conditions were
simulated with wind speeds 1, 8 or 16 m/s and exhaust ow rates 50% or 25% of nominal capacity.
The simulation results indicated no signicant signs of exhaust backow in the simulated con-
ditions. Figs. 13 and 14 show an example of simulation results for cases s-3 and w-6, respectively,
showing the air velocity vectors colored by temperature.
Fig. 13. Velocity vectors colored by temperature, summer case s-3.
Table 3
Summary of conditions for simulation of airows around the cooling tower (s: summer and w: winter case)
Case no. Outdoor
air temper-
ature (C)
Outdoor
air density
(kg/m
3
)
Wind
speed
(m/s)
Cooling
airow
(m
3
/s)
Exhaust air
tempera-
ture T (C)
Exhaust air
density
(kg/m
3
)
Exhaust
initial ve-
locity (m/s)
s-1 25 1.18 1 580 31 1.14 3.22
s-2 25 1.18 4 580 31 1.14 3.22
s-3 25 1.18 8 580 31 1.14 3.22
w-1 20 1.39 1 315 28 1.16 1.75
w-2 20 1.39 8 315 28 1.16 1.75
w-3 20 1.39 16 315 28 1.16 1.75
w-4 20 1.39 1 141 25 1.17 0.78
w-5 20 1.39 8 141 25 1.17 0.78
w-6 20 1.39 16 141 25 1.17 0.78
8. Conclusions
A mathematical model and a computer simulation program were developed to predict the
performance of a cooling tower. Measurements were carried out on two pilot cooling towers in
order to identify the optimal cooling tower lling material and to determine its characteristics.
The comprehensive approach adapted to the cooling tower design has also included the use of the
three-dimensional version of the CFD code Fluent/UNS UNS, version 4.2, to predict ow distribution,
i.e. the velocity eld. The dierences of air velocities before lling material were less than 5%. In
addition, two-dimensional CFD simulations were used to predict the external airow around the
cooling tower and the backow in dierent weather conditions in summer and winter. No sig-
nicant backows of humid air were observed. The research project was connected to a delivery
project where a large industrial cooling tower was integrated into a closure of a water circulation
system in a paper mill. In operation since the summer of 1999, the cooling tower has worked
reliably and reached the designed capacity.
Acknowledgements
This research has been supported by Valmet Corporation, Air Systems Pansio, Turku in
Finland. The authors would like to thank Stora Ensos Kotka Mill in Finland and Process Flow
Ltd. Oy in Finland for their contribution in project realization.
References
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Fig. 14. Velocity vectors colored by temperature, winter case w-6.
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[3] D.J. Benton, W.R. Waldrop, Computer simulation of transport phenomena in evaporative cooling towers, J. Engng.
Gas Turbines Power 110 (1998) 190196.
[4] A.K. Majumdar, A.K. Singhal, D.B. Spalding, H.E. Reilly, J.A. Bartz, Numerical modeling of wet cooling towers,
part 1 and 2, J. Heat Transfer 105 (1983) 728743.
[5] D.R. Backer, H.A. Shryock, A comprehensive approach to the analysis of cooling tower performance, J. Heat
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