Analysis of windbreaker combinations on steam power plant natural draft dry cooling towers

Performance of natural draft dry cooling towers is significantly affected when the wind velocity is higher than a critical level according to their design and geometry. During this type of conditions, global electricity generation of power plants using especially dry type cooling towers is substantially reduced, up to as high as 40%. In order to decrease the reduction in electricity generation of power plants, it is possible to study on the dimensions of the cooling towers. Additionally, using different types of windbreakers can reduce the effects of unfavorable operating conditions. However, the direction of the wind changes with the seasons although the prevailing wind direction is nearly the same. In this study, internal flat and combination of internal flat-external rounded windbreakers have been analyzed by using the computational fluid dynamics approach. The combination of windbreakers, which is able to move axially around the cooling tower, has been propounded to arrange the flow characteristics during the windy days. The studies on the windbreakers in the literature have been aimed to decrease the negative effects of the wind; however, the design in this study provides also an increase in the air mass flowrate due to the momentum effect of the wind. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.