IACCC2015

Xi’an, October 12-15, 2015

Numerical investigation of the internal walkway in the

air-cooled steam condenser
空冷凝汽器挡风墙内步道的数值研究

Yi Yang
School of Energy and Power Engineering,
Xi’an Jiaotong University
杨翼
西安交通大学能源与动力工程学院

October 12, 2015

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Outline

1. Background and Introduction 1. 背景介绍

2. Physical model and numerical method 2. 物理模型与数值方法

3. Results and Discussion 3. 结果与讨论

4. Conclusions 4. 结论

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Outline

1. Background and Introduction 1. 背景介绍

2. Physical model and numerical method 2. 物理模型与数值方法

3. Results and Discussion 3. 结果与讨论

4. Conclusions 4. 结论

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In air cooled steam condensers,

turbine exhaust condensates in
the finned tube exchangers,
while the ambient air generated
by forced draft axial fans flows
outside.

Wind conditions:
wind speed Hot air recirculation
wind direction
ambient temperature

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• Xiufeng Gao (2009)

- Ambient wind speed and direction, air-cooled platform height, location,
terrain condition;
- Turbine back pressure increases with the increase of wind speed and
the decrease of platform height;
- Dominant factor: hot air recirculation.
选题背景及意义
• Weifeng He (2011)
- Two kinds of hot air recirculation are simulated;
- Hot air recirculation increases the temperature of the fan inlet
- Deteriorates the heat transfer environment.

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Wind walls

• J. A. van Rooyen1 (2008)

- The flow distortions and corresponding low-pressure region at the
upstream edge fans;
- Wind wall reduces the effect of hot air recirculation;

• Peiqing Liu (2011)

选题背景及意义
- Hot air recirculation is more sensitive to wind direction and wind speed;
- Increasing the wind-wall height and accelerating the rotational speed of
the fans near the edge of the ACC platform.

• Weifeng He (2011)
- Wind walls can prevent the hot air from being drawn back into the fan
and suppressed the hot air recirculation;
- Wind walls result in a decrease of the volumetric effectiveness.

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• The present study

- Internal walkway: the interval between the wind wall and edge heat exchangers;
选题背景及意义
- A numerical model of a 2×600 MW power plant;
- Purpose: the influence of internal walkway width on the ACSC performance.
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Outline

1. Background and Introduction 1. 背景介绍

2. Physical model and numerical method 2. 物理模型与数值方法

3. Results and Discussion 3. 结果与讨论

4. Conclusions 4. 结论

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ACSC platform
112 ACSC cells, 7 rows×16 columns
45 m in height
180.8 m×88.2 m
Wind walls, 15 m in height
32 heat exchangers

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Lw=1 m

Lw=2 m 10
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Domain inlet Velocity inlet

Domain outlet Pressure outlet
Ground Wall with ambient temperature
Side surfaces Symmetry
Top surfaces Symmetry

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Outline

1. Background and Introduction 1. 背景介绍

2. Physical model and numerical method 2. 物理模型与数值方法

3. Results and Discussion 3. 结果与讨论

4. Conclusions 4. 结论

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Ambient conditions：
pa=101,325 Pa; Tw=306 K.

Steam parameters of the ACSC under TRL mode:

Item ms (kg/s) ps (kPa) a (%) Δps (Pa)

Value 738.5 29 96.4 820

Wind conditions：

vm = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 m/s; 𝛼𝛼= 22.5°

Purpose:
Influences of the Lw (Lw =0,1,2 m) on the volumetric effectiveness (V/ Vid),
heat transfer rate (Q) and back pressure (pb)

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Fan volumetric effectiveness in row direction

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1.15 1.15

1.10 1.10
a) the 1st row is the lowest;
1.05 1.05
b) increases with Lw;
1.00 1.00
c) the 1st row volumetric effectiveness
V/Vid

Lw=0m
0.95 0.95
Lw=1m
0.90 Lw=2m 0.90 enhances more observably than
0.85 0.85
other rows.
0.80 0.80
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1.1 1.1
Row number

vm= 2 m/s 1.0 1.0

0.9 0.9

The increasing amplitude of the V/Vid

0.8
Lw=0m 0.8

average row volumetric 0.7 Lw=1m 0.7

effectiveness at vm= 10 m/s, is 0.6

Lw=2m
0.6
larger than that at vm= 2 m/s
0.5 0.5

0.4 0.4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Row number
vm= 10 m/s
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Fan volumetric effectiveness in column direction

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

1.08 1.08
a) the 1st column is the lowest;
1.06 1.06

1.04 1.04 b) increases with Lw;

1.02 1.02

1.00 1.00
c) the 1st column volumetric
V/Vid

0.98 Lw=0m 0.98

effectiveness enhances more
0.96 Lw=1m 0.96

Lw=2m
0.94 0.94
observably than other columns.
0.92 0.92

0.90 0.90
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
0.96 0.96
Column number
0.94 0.94
vm= 2 m/s 0.92 0.92

0.90 0.90

0.88 0.88
The increasing amplitude of the V/Vid 0.86 0.86

average column volumetric 0.84 0.84

effectiveness at vm= 10 m/s, is 0.82

Lw=0m
0.82

0.80 0.80
larger than that at vm= 2 m/s 0.78
Lw=1m 0.78

0.76
Lw=2m 0.76

0.74 0.74
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Column number
vm= 10 m/s
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Total air volume of 112 fans

2 4 6 8 10
56000 56000

54000 54000

Lw=0m
52000 52000
Lw=1m
Vt/(m3/S)

50000 Lw=2m 50000

48000 48000

46000 46000

44000 44000

2 4 6 8 10
wind speed/(m/s)

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Heat transfer rate

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

55 55

Heat transfer rate/(MW)

54 54

53 53

52 52

51
Lw=0m 51
Lw=1m
50 Lw=2m 50

49 49
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
Heat exchanger number
vm= 2 m/s

a) The 1st heat exchanger’ heat transfer rate increases with Lw;
b) Almost all heat exchangers’ heat transfer rates rises due to the
increasing Lw at vm= 2 m/s;
c) A large internal walkway width could enhance the heat transfer
rate of each heat exchanger at low wind speeds.
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Heat transfer rate 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

54 54

Heat transfer rate/(MW)

52 52

50 50

48 48

46 46

44 44

42 42
Lw=0m
40 40
Lw=1m
38 38
Lw=2m
36 36
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
Heat exchanger number
vm= 10 m/s
a) All heat transfer rate of windward(odd number) heat exchangers except the 1st
one decreases as Lw rises;
b) All heat transfer rate of leeward(even number) heat exchangers increases as
Lw rises;
c) A large internal walkway width could enhance the heat transfer rate of whole air
cooled condenser at high wind speeds, but not each heat exchanger’s heat
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transfer rate.
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Total heat transfer rate

2 4 6 8 10
1750 1750

1700 Lw=0m 1700

Lw=1m
1650 Lw=2m 1650
Qt/(MW)
1600 1600

1550 1550

1500 1500

1450 1450

2 4 6 8 10
Wind speed/(m/s)

Within reasonable limits, a large internal walkway width could improve the heat
transfer rate of the whole air cooled condenser at both low wind speeds and
high wind speeds.

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Back pressure
2 4 6 8 10
50 50

45 Lw=0m 45

Lw=1m
40 Lw=2m 40
pb/(kPa)

35 35

30 30

25 25

2 4 6 8 10
Wind speed/(m/s)

a) pb is achieved by iterating many times until the computational heat transfer

rate is equal to the ideal heat rejection at the TRL case.
b) The back pressure will decrease with a increasing internal walkway width
in a reasonable range.

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Outline

1. Background and Introduction 1. 背景介绍

2. Physical model and numerical method 2. 物理模型与数值方法

3. Results and Discussion 3. 结果与讨论

4. Conclusions 4. 结论

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 The effect of the internal walkway width is remarkable to the volumetric

effectiveness of fans, especially edge fans near wind walls.

 In a certain cope, an increase in the internal walkway width could weaken

the hot air gathering effect between wind walls and edge fans, and

increase the volumetric flow rate of the whole air cooled condenser.

 The volumetric effectiveness is more sensitive to the internal walkway

width at high wind speeds.

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 The changing law of the heat transfer rate is more complicated.

 All heat exchangers’ heat transfer rates could rise at low wind speeds with

the increasing internal walkway width.

 Only leeward heat exchangers could rise at high wind speeds with the

increasing internal walkway width.

 In general, an increasing internal walkway width could enhance the heat

transfer rate of the whole air cooled condenser at both low wind speeds

and high wind speeds.

 The back pressure also could drop as the internal width rises, especially at

high wind speeds.

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