Study of Degradation of Dry Cooling Tower Performance under Wind Conditionsand Method for Tower Efficiency Enhancement

Wind can adversely affect the thermal performance of a dry cooling tower. In this field study,performance of Heller cooling tower and the use of guide vanes cascade at the intakes of the peripherycooling sectors, which are parallel to the wind direction and have inadequate thermal performance, forenhancement of the cooling tower performance under wind conditions were investigated. Windvelocity around the cooling tower and water flow rates and temperatures at the cooling tower inlet andoutlet were measured. It was observed that the air suctionthrough the tower prevented the flowseparation at the radiators locations on the tower periphery. Moreover, with increase in wind velocity,the performance of sectors parallel to the wind direction on the tower periphery and those at the backof the tower deteriorated. However, the better airflow distribution over the wind facing cooling sectorsresulted in about 20% increase in the thermal efficiency of these sectors with increased wind velocity.Results further showed that the installation of guide vanes cascade caused more uniform temperatureson the surface of the tower radiators and reduced their temperature by 2 ºC, which was translated into7% enhancement in the thermal performance of the cooling tower.