Techno Press
Techno Press

Wind and Structures
  Volume 28, Number 1, January 2019 , pages 1-17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/was.2019.28.1.001
 


The influence of internal ring beams on the internal pressure for large cooling towers with wind-thermal coupling effect
Shitang Ke, Wei Yu, Yaojun Ge, Lin Zhao and Shuyang Cao

 
Abstract
    Internal ring beams are primary components of new ring-stiffened cooling towers. In this study, numerical simulation of the internal flow field of a cooling tower with three ring beams under wind-thermal coupling effect is performed. The studied cooling tower is a 220-m super-large hyperbolic indirect natural draft cooling tower that is under construction in China and will be the World\'s highest cooling tower, the influence of peripheral radiators in operating cooling tower is also considered. Based on the simulation, the three-dimensional effect and distribution pattern of the wind loads on inner surface of the cooling tower is summarized, the average wind pressure distributions on the inner surface before and after the addition of the ring beams are analyzed, and the influence pattern of ring beams on the internal pressure coefficient value is derived. The action mechanisms behind the air flows inside the tower are compared. In addition, the effects of internal ring beams on temperature field characteristics, turbulence kinetic energy distribution, and wind resistance are analyzed. Finally, the internal pressure coefficients are suggested for ring-stiffened cooling towers under wind-thermal coupling effect. The study shows that the influence of internal stiffening ring beams on the internal pressure and flow of cooling towers should not be ignored, and the wind-thermal coupling effect should also be considered in the numerical simulation of cooling tower flow fields. The primary conclusions presented in this paper offer references for determining the internal suction of such ring-stiffened cooling towers.
 
Key Words
     indirect natural draft cooling tower; numerical simulation; wind-thermal coupling; internal ring beam; internal pressure effect
 
Address
Shitang Ke: Department of Civil Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Yudao Street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing, Jangsu Province, China;
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Sping Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China
Wei Yu: Department of Civil Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 29 Yudao Street,
Qinhuai District, Nanjing, Jangsu Province, China
Yaojun Ge, Lin Zhao and Shuyang Cao: State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Sping Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China

 

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