Enhancement of Thermo-Flow Performances by Windbreakers for Two-Tower Indirect Dry Cooling System

The winds will greatly weaken the cooling performance of indirect dry cooling system with twin towers. The exterior windbreakers are recommended to restrain the wind adverse effects in this paper. The macro heat exchanger model was adopted to simulate the heat exchange between circulating water and ambient air. The performances of natural draft dry cooling system (NDDCS) with and without exterior windbreakers were numerically studied. The pressure, velocity and temperature distribution of cooling air in wind angles of 0°, 45° and 90° was obtained and presented. The results show that in all wind directions, the performances for lateral sector of towers with windbreakers are significantly improved, but the low-pressure zone appears unexpectedly for the rear sectors, which reduces the air flow rate. The cooling performances of the twin towers with or without windbreakers decrease at first but then recover with the wind velocity increasing. Besides, the optimal flow and heat transfer performances appear in the wind angle of 0°. The cooling performances can be significantly improved in all three wind directions due to windbreaker configuration.