Numerical simulation on internal and external flow field of a SCAL indirect air cooling tower

According to the actual size of cooling tube bundle and the arrangement of cooling triangle of a surface condenser aluminum exchangers(SCAL)natural draft cooling tower,the geometric model of heat transfer elements at the tower bottom was established.On the basis of the RNG k-eturbulence model and porous medium model,three-dimensional numerical simulation was carried out for the inner and external flow field of the air cooling tower,to investigate the influence of environmental conditions on the tower's operation performance.The results show that,with an increase in ambient wind speed,the inlet air speed at windward side of the tower increases gradually,while that at crosswind side and lee side decreases and tends to be obvious;the tower ventilation rate and outlet air speed increases at first and then decreases,and their maximum values appear when the wind speed is 2m/s.