Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

A comprehensive approach to cooling tower design

Nenad Milosavljevic *, Pertti Heikkil
a
Valmet Corporation, Air Systems, Pansio, FIN-20240 Turku, Finland
Received 7 December 1999; accepted 20 June 2000

Abstract
In this paper, a mathematical model for a counter¯ow wet cooling tower is derived, which is based on
one-dimensional heat and mass balance equations using the measured heat transfer coecient. The balance
equations are solved numerically to predict the temperature change of air and water, as well as the humidity
as a function of the cooling tower high. Experimental measurements on two pilot-scale cooling towers were
carried out in order to analyze the performance of di€erent cooling tower ®lling materials. Also, the per-
formance of other cooling tower elements, such as droplet separators and water spray nozzles, was in-
vestigated in the pilot experiments. The ¯ow distribution, i.e. the velocity ®eld, upstream to the ®lling
material was predicted using the three-dimensional version of the computational ¯uid dynamics (CFD)
code Fluent/U N S , version 4.2. The calculated ¯ow ®elds are presented for di€erent distances between the
inlet of the air and the ®lling material. In addition, the two-dimensional version of the CFD code Fluent/
U N S , version 4.2, was applied to predict the external air¯ow around the cooling tower and the back¯ow in
di€erent weather conditions in summer and winter. The research project was carried out in connection to an
industrial cooling tower installation. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Cooling tower; Modeling; Computational ¯uid dynamics simulations; Heat transfer; Mass transfer

1. Introduction

Almost every industrial process has some requirement for temperature control. For this reason,
cooling towers are nowadays part of many plant installations. Their operation is based on a
principle where energy is removed from hot water in direct contact with relatively cool and dry air.
In a counter¯ow cooling tower, the process consists of a gas phase (air) ¯owing upwards, a liquid
phase (water ®lm) ¯owing downwards, and a large interface between the two phases. The key

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +358-20-482-4332; fax: +358-20-482-4663.
E-mail address: nenad.milosavljevic@valmet.com (N. Milosavljevic).

1359-4311/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 7 8 - 8
900 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Nomenclature

a pack density, surface per unit volume (m2 /m3 )

A area (m2 )
cp speci®c heat at constant pressure (J/kg K)
c1 , c2 , c3 coecients in Eq. (10)
h enthalpy (J/kg)
Dhev latent heat of evaporation (J/kg)
K mass transfer coecient (kg/m2 s)
k1 , k2 , k3 coecients in Eq. (11)
Le Lewis factor
m_ mass ¯ow rate (kg/s)
p pressure (Pa)
Q heat transfer rate (W)
r0 latent heat of evaporation of water at 0°C (J/kg)
T temperature (°C)
V volume (m3 )
z vertical distance (m)
Greeks
a convective heat transfer coecient (W/m2 K)

a volumetric heat transfer coecient (W/m3 K)
f humidity (kgw /kga )
Subscripts
a air
ma moist air (air and vapor)
s surface
v vapor
w water

factors required for intensive heat and mass transfer in a cooling tower are a large air-to-water
interfacial contact area and a high heat-transfer coecient.
The objective of this work was a comprehensive approach to cooling tower design. A mathe-
matical model for a counter¯ow wet cooling tower was derived based on one-dimensional heat
and mass balance equations. The mathematical model was supported with measurements on pilot
cooling towers [1]. Experimental measurements on two pilot-scale cooling towers were carried out
in order to analyze the performance of di€erent cooling tower ®lling materials. Also, the per-
formance of other cooling tower elements, such as droplet separators and water spray nozzles,
was investigated in the pilot experiments.
The comprehensive approach included study of the air¯ow distribution, i.e. the velocity ®eld,
upstream to the ®lling material. For this purpose the three-dimensional version of the compu-
tational ¯uid dynamics (CFD) code Fluent/U N S 4.2 was used. Many cooling tower designers
 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 901

neglect the fact that the humid exhaust air, due to di€erent weather conditions, may partially be
returned to the system. A cooling tower should be constructed so that this back¯ow of exhaust air
into the tower and its mixing with the suction air are avoided. During summertime the back¯ow is
harmful because of reduced cooling capacity and during wintertime there is the risk of icing. The
same CFD code Fluent/U N S 4.2 was used in its two-dimensional version to predict the external
air¯ow around the cooling tower and the back¯ow in di€erent weather conditions in summer and
winter. The research project was connected to a full-scale industrial cooling tower installation. In
the design of the tower the cooling tower simulation program was used. The ®rst cooling tower
delivery on mill scale was designed and dimensioned for a closure of a water circulation system in
a paper mill in Finland. In spite of the well-known evaporative cooling principle and a number of
di€erent mathematical models [2±5], the comprehensive approach described here is required to be
able to design a reliable, well-operating cooling tower.

2. Mathematical model for the counter¯ow cooling tower

In a counter¯ow cooling tower the process consists of a gas phase (air) ¯owing upwards, a
liquid phase (water ®lm) ¯owing downwards, and a large interface between these two phases. The
water ®lm is thin and well mixed. Therefore the water temperature can be assumed constant
through the thickness of the water ®lm. Convective heat and mass transfer takes place between the
air and water. An analogy between heat and mass transfer is assumed, the Lewis number
Le ˆ a=cp;a K is assumed to be unity.
The evaporative cooling process occurs at the interface between the water ®lm and the air
stream. It is very dicult to determine the exact value of the available area for heat and mass
transfer, because it is formed by a falling water ®lm and also includes an area of separate water
droplets. Thus the volumetric heat transfer coecient is used in the mathematical model. The
value of the volumetric heat transfer coecient strongly depends on the type of packing used in
the tower, and on the water and air¯ow rates.
The energy and mass balances are derived for a volume element dV ˆ A dz according to Fig. 1.
An amount of water dm_ w is evaporated in the control volume dV . The water ¯ow is cooled by
temperature decrement dTw due to the latent heat of evaporation and due to convective heat
transfer. Air humidity is increased by df and air is heated by dTa . At the water surface, evapo-
ration can be written as:
a
dm_ w ˆ …f fa † dV …1†
cpma s
where fs is saturation humidity of air at water temperature Tw and fa is the air humidity in the bulk
air¯ow. The air humidity change in a volume subsection can be written as,
a …fs fa † dV
df ˆ …2†
cpma m_ a
The addition of convective and evaporative heat transfer gives the total heat transfer rate for the
individual control volume,
902 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Fig. 1. A control segment of cooling tower.

 
 a
dQw ˆ a …Tw Ta † ‡ …f fa † Dhev …Tw † dV …3†
cpma s

Considering Fig. 1, the enthalpy balance under steady-state conditions for water and air can be
written as,
…m_ a ha †…z‡dz† …m_ a ha †…z† …m_ w hw †…z‡dz† ‡ …m_ w hw †…z† ˆ 0 …4†

The rate of energy transferred from the water is equal to the rate of energy gained by air, namely
o…m_ a ha † o…m_ w hw †
dz ˆ dz …5†
oz oz
Both side terms can be expanded into the following forms:
  !

oTa
of oTw om_ w
m_ a cpa ‡ cpv f ‡ r0 ‡ cpv Ta dz ˆ m_ w …z†cpw ‡ hw dz …6†
oz oz oz oz

By combining Eqs. (3) and (6), the governing di€erential equations for describing cooling tower
performance have been developed. The temperature change in the air in a subsection is,
 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 903
nh i o

a …Tw Ta † ‡ cpa …fs fa † Dhev …Tw † dV dm_ w …r0 ‡ cpv Ta †
dTa ˆ
ma

…7†
m_ a cpa ‡ fa cpv
and the water temperature change is given by,
h i

a …Tw Ta † ‡ cpa …fs fa † Dhev …Tw † dV ‡ cpw Tw dm_ w
ma
dTw ˆ …8†
cpw m_ w …z†
where m_ w …z† represents actual water rate and can be de®ned as


m_ w …z† ˆ m_ w ‡ m_ a f…z† f…zˆ0† …9†
The cooling tower calculation starts at the bottom where the actual water rate is smaller due to
evaporation. An iterative calculation is needed to determine the value of water rate at the bottom
of the cooling tower …m_ w † and this gradually increases until it becomes the same as the amount of
inlet water at the top.
The set of nonlinear equations can be solved numerically when the initial conditions, tower
dimensions, as well as relations needed to estimate the volumetric heat transfer coecients …a † are
known. The Runge±Kutta method was used for the numerical calculations. A F O R T R A N program
was developed for the numerical simulation [6].

3. Experimental investigation

Experiments were carried out on two forced draft counter¯ow pilot towers with cross-section
area of 0.49 and 1.44 m2 . A schematic of the pilot cooling tower is shown in Fig. 2. The inves-
tigated pilot towers were equipped with ®lling, a droplet separator and a water distribution

Fig. 2. Pilot cooling tower.

904 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

system. The pilot test rig was also equipped with a centrifugal fan for air supply and a bottom
pool for water collecting.
The main objective was to measure the heat and mass transfer coecients and the pressure drop
of the di€erent ®lling materials, and further how these depend on air and mass ¯ow. Only ®lm-
type ®lling materials were investigated. The following measurements were implemented in the test
arrangement:
(a) Water parameters: temperature of inlet water Tw1 (°C), temperature of outlet water Tw2 (°C),
water ¯ow rate m_ w (kg/s), nozzle water pressure pw (Pa).
(b) Air parameters: inlet temperature Ta1 (°C), inlet wet bulb temperature Twb1 (°C), air¯ow rate
m_ a (kg/s), outlet temperature Ta2 (°C), outlet wet bulb temperature Twb2 (°C).
(c) Cooling tower pressure distribution: static pressure before ®lling material p1 (Pa), static pres-
sure after ®lling material, p2 (Pa), static pressure before droplet separator, p3 (Pa), static pres-
sure after droplet separator, p4 (Pa).
All data were monitored during the measurement, collected with F L U K E H Y D R A 2 6 3 5 A data
logger, and transferred directly to a PC ®le. PT-100 sensors were used for temperature mea-
surements. MICOR TT 370S pressure meters were used for measurement of air static pressure and
volume ¯ow. Cooling air¯ow was measured with a measuring ring.
Cooled water was collected into a separated basin, heated with direct steam injection up to
40°C and sprayed again into the cooling tower. Plastic nozzles with quadratic spray pattern were
used in order to obtain uniform water distribution across the ®lling. Mass ¯ow rates of air and
water varied from 2 to 6 kg/m2 s and 1.9 to 7 kg/m2 s, respectively. The water inlet temperature
was kept close to 40°C. The ranges of the parameters were chosen in such a way to reproduce as
nearly as possible the operational conditions for the real industrial case.

4. Analysis of the experimental results

In the ®rst pilot tower a wide range of di€erent ®lling materials were investigated, including
di€erent ¯uted plates, smooth plates, honeycomb ®llings etc. (Fig. 3).
Figs. 4 and 5 show the volumetric heat transfer coecient a and the air-side pressure loss
dp=dz for the di€erent ®lling materials when the air¯ow rate is constant at 3.5 kg/m2 s and the
water ¯ow rate varies from 2 to 6 kg/m2 s.
Based on the experimental results, an optimal ®lling material with a high heat transfer coe-
cients and a low-pressure losses were selected. The objective was to obtain a ®lling material that
enables a compact cooling tower design with a low space requirement and fan power consump-
tion.
Among all investigated ®lling materials it was found that type g gives the best combination of
heat transfer and pressure losses. The type g ®lling was tested on the second pilot cooling tower to
get more accurate and reliable ®lling characteristics. The cross-section area of the second pilot
tower was 1.44 m2 and the tower has almost all the characteristics of a real, small-scale industrial
application. The measured transfer data of the given type of ®lling material were correlated in the
following form:
N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 905

Fig. 3. Investigated ®lling material types.

906 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Fig. 4. Comparison of volumetric heat transfer coecients of the investigated ®lling materials.

Fig. 5. Comparison of pressure losses through the investigated ®lling materials.

 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 907
  m C2  m C3
 w a
a ˆ c1 1 ‡ …10†
A A
The pressure loss for the given packing was correlated by,
  m k2  m k3
Dp w a
ˆ k1 1 ‡ …11†
l A A
The parameters of the Eqs. (9) and (10) were determined with nonlinear regression analysis.

5. Design of cooling tower for the real industrial application

The research project was connected to a full-scale industrial cooling tower installation. The
tower was designed to cool 450 kg/s process water from 40°C to 22°C, and it is planned to run all
year-round in the northern climate. Water quality is an important factor in the selection of the
®lling material. In this case the concentration of suspended solids in water was relatively low, <50
mg/l, and a combination of two types of ®lling material was chosen. At the top of the cooling
tower very ecient (with a large interfacial contact area) type g ®lling material was placed. An-
tifouling ®lling material was placed at the bottom to avoid blocking of the ®lling. The simulation
results of the ®nal solution for the summer conditions are given in Table 1.
Evaluation of water and air temperature and air humidity through the ®lling height is shown in
Fig. 6. The top part of the cooling tower ®lling (0.6 m) was equipped with ecient type g ®lling

Table 1
Results of the cooling tower simulation
Cooling tower simulation
Tower cross area 180.0 m2
Fill height 2.4 (0:6 ‡ 1:8) m
Cooling air
Air mass ¯ow 650.0 kg/s
Initial temperature 25.0°C
Initial humidity 0.0100 kg/kg
Initial enthalpy 50.6 kJ/kg
Final temperature 30.7°C
Final humidity 0.029 kg/kg
Final enthalpy 105.4 kJ/kg
Process water
Initial mass ¯ow 450.0 kg/s
Initial temperature 40.0°C
Final mass ¯ow 437.6 kg/s
Final temperature 21.1°C
Pressure drop (®ll) 110.7 Pa
Utilized heat (water) 35.7 MW
Utilized heat (gas) 35.7 MW
908 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Fig. 6. Evaluation of water and air temperature and air humidity through the ®lling height.

material. In this zone heat and mass transfer is more intensive and a higher slope of the curves in
Fig. 6 can be observed. The bottom part of the cooling tower ®lling (1.8 m) was equipped with the
antifouling ®lling material due to less tendency to foul.

6. Simulation of the air¯ow distribution in the cooling tower

To guarantee good, ecient cooling tower performance it is extremely important that the
air¯ow through the ®lling is uniform all over the cooling tower area. For successful design, the
construction of the bottom pool and the way the air enters the bottom pool are critical. CFD is
applied for optimizing these variables so that a uniform air distribution is obtained. The com-
putational ¯uid dynamics code used was Fluent/U N S , version 4.2 (three-dimensional/two-di-
mensional). The turbulence model used was standard k±e model of Fluent/U N S . Boundary layers
were computed with standard wall functions of Fluent/U N S . Due to symmetry, it was not nec-
essary to simulate the whole tower, and therefore only one module with fan was calculated. The
simulation domain consisted of the supply air fan, inlet cone and bottom pool volume up to the
bottom edge of the ®lling. The supply air fan was modeled by giving the incoming air¯ow a similar
¯ow distribution and rotational ¯ow motion as it would be after the actual fan impeller. The
air¯ow was modeled as a single-phase ¯ow, neglecting the in¯uence of falling water droplets. It
was assumed that the water droplets do not have any signi®cant in¯uence on the air¯ow and it
would induce only some pressure loss. The ®lling material was modeled as an air permeable wall
with constant ¯ow resistance. Fig. 7 shows the cross-section of the simulation domain and the
calculated air¯ow pattern (velocity vectors) for one calculated case.
The main objective of the simulation was to determine the uniformity of the air¯ow just below
the ®lling material. Critical details in this respect are the operation of the di€user and how the air
enters the basin from the di€user. It is obvious that air velocity should be low enough at the exit of
the di€user, and that the air¯ow should be uniformly distributed across the di€user outlet area.
 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 909

Fig. 7. Air¯ow pattern and velocity vectors (di€user-®lling material distance 1000 mm).

Next, there should be enough vertical space from the top edge of the di€user to the bottom of the
®lling. Table 2 shows a summary of the simulated construction alternatives.
Figs. 8±12 show the calculated air¯ow distribution across the ®lling area in di€erent cases. The
air enters from the right side of the diagrams. In the ®rst three simulations the in¯uence of the
vertical distance from the top edge of the di€user to the bottom of the ®lling was found to be
alternatively 0.4, 1.0, or 1.6 m. The simulations indicated a gradual improvement in the air dis-
tribution as the vertical distance was increased.
Furthermore, it was observed that rotational air¯ow caused by the fan impeller led to a
somewhat asymmetric air distribution. In the following simulation (Fig. 11) the possibility to
eliminate this rotational air¯ow was examined. A ¯ow straightener was placed in the end of the
di€user. The results indicated a clear improvement in the ¯ow pattern, but the ¯ow straightener
used in the simulation was not able to reduce the vortex completely.

Table 2
Summary of simulated alternatives
Simulation no. Di€user-®lling distance (m) Flow straightener Bell shaped air spreader
1 0.4 No No
2 1.0 No No
3 1.6 No No
4 1.0 Yes No
5 1.0 No Yes
910 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Fig. 8. Contours of Y -velocities (di€user-®lling material distance 400 m).

Fig. 9. Contours of Y -velocities (di€user-®lling material distance 1000 mm).

 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 911

Fig. 10. Contours of Y -velocities (di€user-®lling material distance 1600 mm).

Fig. 11. Contours of Y -velocities (di€user-®lling material distance 1000 mm, ¯ow straightener).
912 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Fig. 12. Contours of Y -velocities (di€user-®lling material distance 1000 mm, bell-shaped air spreader).

All previous simulations indicated that the area just above the di€user exit tends to get less air
than other parts of the tower. Therefore, the next simulation (Fig. 12) was made with a bell-
shaped air spreader placed in the exit of the di€user. With this kind of air spreader, the di€erences
in air velocities under the ®lling material were less than 5%.

7. External air¯ows around the cooling tower

A prerequisite for proper cooling tower operation is that the mixing of exhaust air with suction
air is avoided. However, factors such as unfavorable wind conditions [7], defective process layout
and the in¯uence of surrounding buildings may cause back¯ow situations. A high vertical distance
between the exhaust and supply intake, and high initial velocity of exhaust air reduce the risk of
back¯ow. The back¯ow of exhaust air is harmful in two respects: ®rstly, during the warm season
the recirculation of warm humid air reduces cooling capacity, and secondly, during wintertime
back¯ow may cause icing on the air intake equipment and on other surfaces around the cooling
tower.
A series of CFD simulations was made to study the air¯ows around the cooling tower. Di€erent
conditions and ¯ow rates of exhaust air, di€erent outdoor air temperatures and di€erent wind
conditions were investigated. Both summer and winter situations were studied. Table 3 shows a
summary of the simulated process conditions.
 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915 913

Table 3
Summary of conditions for simulation of air¯ows around the cooling tower (s: summer and w: winter case)
Case no. Outdoor Outdoor Wind Cooling Exhaust air Exhaust air Exhaust
air temper- air density speed air¯ow tempera- density initial ve-
ature (°C) (kg/m3 ) (m/s) (m3 /s) ture T (°C) (kg/m3 ) locity (m/s)
s-1 25 1.18 1 580 31 1.14 3.22
s-2 25 1.18 4 580 31 1.14 3.22
s-3 25 1.18 8 580 31 1.14 3.22
w-1 20 1.39 1 315 28 1.16 1.75
w-2 20 1.39 8 315 28 1.16 1.75
w-3 20 1.39 16 315 28 1.16 1.75
w-4 20 1.39 1 141 25 1.17 0.78
w-5 20 1.39 8 141 25 1.17 0.78
w-6 20 1.39 16 141 25 1.17 0.78

Fig. 13. Velocity vectors colored by temperature, summer case s-3.

For summer conditions, three simulations were made at di€erent wind speeds (1, 4 and 8 m/s)
with maximum cooling capacity and exhaust ¯ow rate. The outdoor air temperature was assumed
25°C. For the winter case, in which the outdoor air temperature was 20°C, six conditions were
simulated with wind speeds 1, 8 or 16 m/s and exhaust ¯ow rates 50% or 25% of nominal capacity.
The simulation results indicated no signi®cant signs of exhaust back¯ow in the simulated con-
ditions. Figs. 13 and 14 show an example of simulation results for cases s-3 and w-6, respectively,
showing the air velocity vectors colored by temperature.
914 N. Milosavljevic, P. Heikkila / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 899±915

Fig. 14. Velocity vectors colored by temperature, winter case w-6.

8. Conclusions

A mathematical model and a computer simulation program were developed to predict the
performance of a cooling tower. Measurements were carried out on two pilot cooling towers in
order to identify the optimal cooling tower ®lling material and to determine its characteristics.
The comprehensive approach adapted to the cooling tower design has also included the use of the
three-dimensional version of the CFD code Fluent/U N S , version 4.2, to predict ¯ow distribution,
i.e. the velocity ®eld. The di€erences of air velocities before ®lling material were less than 5%. In
addition, two-dimensional CFD simulations were used to predict the external air¯ow around the
cooling tower and the back¯ow in di€erent weather conditions in summer and winter. No sig-
ni®cant back¯ows of humid air were observed. The research project was connected to a delivery
project where a large industrial cooling tower was integrated into a closure of a water circulation
system in a paper mill. In operation since the summer of 1999, the cooling tower has worked
reliably and reached the designed capacity.

Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by Valmet Corporation, Air Systems Pansio, Turku in
Finland. The authors would like to thank Stora EnsoÕs Kotka Mill in Finland and Process Flow
Ltd. Oy in Finland for their contribution in project realization.

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