Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 28 (2021) 101403

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Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/csite

Numerical simulation on influence of noise barrier on thermal

performance for natural draft wet cooling towers
Zhirui Zheng, Deying Zhang, Lei Jiang, Zhengqing Zhang, Suoying He, Ming Gao *
Shandong Engineering Laboratory for High-efficiency Energy Conservation and Energy Storage Technology & Equipment, School of Energy and Power
Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250061, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The noise barrier installed around the natural draft wet cooling tower can reduce the operating
Natural draft wet cooling tower noise, but it will lead to an adverse effect on the thermal performance of the tower. In order to
Noise barrier study the influence of noise barrier on the thermal performance, a three-dimensional numerical
Thermal performance
model of the tower with noise barrier was established in this paper, and the influence of venti­
Numerical simulation
Ventilation shutters
lation shutters on the thermal performance are also investigated. In this study, the outlet water
temperature t2 and the ventilation rate G are selected to evaluate the thermal performance of the
cooling tower. The simulation results showed that noise barrier destroys the uniformity of the
circumferential air intake of cooling tower, reduces the G of the tower, and weakens the cooling
capacity. The overall thermal performance deteriorates with the increase of the height H, and the
central angle θ of the noise barrier, but improves with the increase of its distance from the tower
L. The maximum t2 is 28.25 ◦ C, which is about 0.36 ◦ C higher than that condition without noise
barrier, the minimum G reduces to 10235.50 kg/s, which is about 6.8% less than that without
noise barrier. Additionally, the ventilation shutters installed on the noise barrier can weaken the
adverse effects of noise barrier on the thermal performance. When the ventilation shutters are
installed on the middle of the noise barrier and the louvers angle β is 90◦ , the improvement to the
adverse effect reaches to the optimum value. Compared with that condition without ventilation
shutters, the G reaches to 10501.95 kg/s, increases by 2.6%, and the t2 is 28.08 ◦ C, reduces by
0.17 ◦ C.

1. Introduction

Thermal power generation still dominates in our society today [1,2], and naturally draft cooling towers are widely used as an
important cold-end equipment in large thermal power plants [3–5]. With the application of large-scale generator units, the volumes of
cooling towers increase gradually, and the noise caused by the towers, especially wet towers, is becoming more and more serious [6,7].
The wet cooling towers contain three heat and mass transfer zones, including the water-spraying zone, the fillings zone and the rain
zone. The spraying-noise, of which sound pressure level is above 80 dB [8], produced by the rain zone is the main part of the noise of
the wet cooling tower [9,10]. The noise diffuses to the surrounding environment through the air inlet, which has a negative impact on
the lives of the surrounding residents.
Improving the thermal performance of cooling tower is a worthy research, and many scholars have made their contributions [11,

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gm@sdu.edu.cn (M. Gao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2021.101403
Received 22 March 2021; Received in revised form 20 August 2021; Accepted 29 August 2021
Available online 1 September 2021
2214-157X/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Z. Zheng et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 28 (2021) 101403

Nomenclature

A area, m2
C1 surface permeability coefficient of porous medium
C2 pressure step coefficient
c constant-pressure specific heat, J/(kg⋅K)
d diameter, m
f resistance force, N
H height, m
h enthalpy, J/kg
L distance, m
m mass, kg
P pressure, Pa
Pr Prandtl number
q water drenching density, kg/(m2⋅s)
Re Reynolds number
r latent heat evaporation, J/kg
S source term
Sc Schmidt number
t temperature, ◦ C
v velocity, m/s
→v air velocity vector, m/s
Y mass component

Greek symbols
β louver angle, ◦
γ diffusion coefficient, m2/s
σ relative deviation, %
θ central angle, ◦
λ thermal conductivity, W/(m⋅K)
μ viscosity, kg/(m⋅s)
ρ density, kg/m3
ϕ relative humidity, %
χ humidity ratio, kg/kg

Subscripts
0 environmental parameters
1 inlet variable
2 outlet variable
a airside
l laminar variable
t turbulent variable
w waterside
x, y, z x, y, z direction

12]. Sadafi [13,14] et al. studied the spray cooling method using saline water, and improved the cooling performance of the dry
cooling tower by rationally planning the size and position of the nozzles. Shahali [15] et al. conducted a variety of tests on the different
types of PVC fillings, finding that the number of ribs directly affected the thermal performance of the fillings. Zhang [16] et al.
improved the ventilation of the tower under crosswind by using non-uniform fillings. Through the experimental tests, Rahmati [17]
et al. pointed out that increasing the stage numbers of fillings can effectively improve the cooling efficiency of the tower. However,
with the improvement of life quality, the research on the noise control is also important.
In order to reduce the operation noise of the cooling towers, many scholars have conducted in-depth research. Ellis et al. [18]
analyzed the generation mechanism of the noise of wet cooling towers, and proposed a complete noise calculation method by deducing
the sound power expressions of different tower types, the calculation results have high accuracy. Reinicke et al. [19] studied the
distribution and propagation characteristics of noise in the rain zone through the semi-empirical formula of the noise propagation,
which provided guidance and basis for actual research on the noise reduction of the tower. Zhou [20] established a wet cooling tower
spray noise calculation model by analyzing the basic theory of water drop impact noise, studied the operating noise of towers under
different water droplet sizes and water distribution methods, found that the use of small water droplet size and different internal and
external density of the water distribution method can reduce the noise by 8.2 dB. Kunesch et al. [21] installed baffles wrapped with

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Z. Zheng et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 28 (2021) 101403

sound-absorbing materials at a certain distance from the cooling tower for noise reduction, and the field test results showed that the
installation of baffles had significant effects on noise reduction. Zhang [22] studied the impact of buffers layer on the noise in water
pouring by model test, and proposed an optimized layout of the buffer layer, under the optimal layout, the noise can be maximum
reduced by 19 dB. Xu [23] combined the noise barrier with the inclined mufflers, and obtained the optimal arrangement plan through
theoretical calculation, which successfully reduced the noise from 67.3 dB to 43.6 dB after transformation.
Following the in-depth study of noise in recent years, noise barriers have been widely used to solve the noise problem of natural
draft cooling towers among the noise reduction measures with the advantages of flexibility, economical price and evident noise
reduction effect [24,25]. Tupov [26] studied the noise reduction mechanism of the noise barrier, verified the effectiveness of noise
reduction, and found that the inclined noise barrier has better noise reduction performance. Liu [27] considered the ventilation rate of
cooling tower and installed the noise barrier at twice the distance from air inlet of the tower, which successfully reduced the noise from
71 dB to 54.6 dB. Lv [28] adopted the arc-shaped noise barrier with fish scales, and obtained its location based on the noise propa­
gation formula, reduced the noise while saving construction cost. The noise reduced by 29.2 dB at the optimal condition by combining
the muffler with the noise barrier. Under crosswind environments conditions, the noise barrier can also play a similar role as wind­
break wall, Dong [29] gave the optimum orientations of the windbreak wall under different crosswind speeds, which can provide a
reference for the application of noise barrier. However, these studies only involved the noise reduction effect of noise barrier, and the
impact on the thermal performance of the cooling tower needs to be supplemented.
To sum up, the previous research mainly focused on enhancing the noise reduction performance of the noise barrier [30]. However,
the above researches failed to consider the impact of the noise barrier on the thermal performance of the cooling tower. If the thermal
performance of the cooling tower is weakened due to noise reduction, it obviously deviates from the original industrial use of the
tower. Therefore, it has great significance to study the influence mechanism of noise barrier on the thermal performance of the cooling
tower. In fact, the noise barrier arranged around the tower with certain noise reduction effect will adversely affect the thermal per­
formance [31,32].
In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical simulation model of cooling tower with arc-shaped noise barrier is established. The
ventilation rate G and the outlet water temperature t2 are used to evaluate the thermal performance under different noise barrier
layouts. In view of the adverse effect of noise barrier on thermal performance, ventilation shutters are added on it to increase the G. The
variation law of the G and t2 under different shutters installation schemes and louvers angle β are analyzed. The optimal shutters
installation scheme obtained in this paper can guide the optimization of the noise barrier layout around the cooling tower.

2. Physical model of cooling tower and noise barrier

This paper selects a cooling tower equipped for 660 MW unit as the research object. The specific parameters are as follows. The
height of the cooling tower is 150 m, the diameter of the tower outlet is 71.418 m, the diameter of the throat is 66.5 m, the diameter of
the tower bottom is 118.232 m, the height of the air inlet is 10.334 m, and thickness of the fillings is 1.25 m.
The definitions of the installing parameters of the arc-shaped noise barrier, including the height H, the central angle θ, and the
installed distance L, are shown in Fig. 1(a). In practical engineering, the area where the noise barrier covers the tower entrance is
determined by the actual noise reduction requirements [33,34]. Therefore, the noise barrier studied in this paper does not cover all the
tower entrance. The ventilation shutters installed on the noise barrier are shown in Fig.1(b), 10 air inlet louvers with a width of 0.1 m
and a length of 1 m are selected to form an air inlet unit in the vertical direction. The shutters on the noise barrier can be composed of
multiple air inlet units.

Fig. 1. Physical model: (a) Layout of the noise barrier (b) Sketch of ventilation shutters.

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3. Numerical model and validation

When the cooling tower operates stably and the external environmental conditions remain unchanged, the heat and mass exchange
process between water and air can be regarded as a steady state. The numerical calculation of heat and mass transfer between air and
water in the tower can be descripted by the conservation laws of mass, momentum, energy and species.

3.1. Governing equations

Since the airflow into the cooling tower is stable, assuming that the air is not compressible, the steady-state Reynolds average
Navier-Stokes control equation can be used to describe the steady flow and the Reynolds stress term can be solved by the standard k-ε
turbulence model.
Mass conservation equation of air can be expressed as follows,

∇ · (ρa →
v ) = Sm (1)

→ → →
v = vx i + vy j + vz k is the air velocity vector, m/s, Sm is the mass source term, kg/(m3⋅s), ρa is the air density, kg/
in the equation, →
3
m .
Momentum conservation equation of air can be described as follows,
→
∇ · (ρa →
v→v ) = − ∇P + ∇(μ + μt )(∇ · →
v ) + ρa →
g +F (2)

where μ represents the laminar viscosity coefficient, kg/(m⋅s), μt is the turbulent viscosity coefficient, kg/(m⋅s), g is the acceleration of
→ → → →
gravity, m/s2, F = Fx i + Fy j + Fz k is the force acting on air, N/m3.
Air energy conservation equation is given as follows,
( ∫t ) ( )
∑ →
∇ ρ→ v c dt = ∇ (k + k )∇t −
a a al h J
at +S j j ae (3)
0 j

∫t
in the above equation, ca is the constant-pressure specific heat of air, J/(kg⋅K), hj = 0 cp,j dt is the sensible enthalpy corresponding to
∑ →
component j, J/kg, kal is the laminar thermal conductivity, W/(m⋅K), kat is turbulent thermal conductivity, W/(m⋅K), hj J j is the
j
sensible enthalpy transfer caused by component diffusion, Sae is the energy source term of air, W/m3.
Mass component conservation equation of water vapor Yw is listed as follows,

∇ · (ρa →
v Yw ) = − ∇ · [ρa (γl + γt )∇Yw ] + Sm (4)

where γl and γt are the laminar and turbulent diffusion coefficient of water vapor in humid air, m2/s.
The governing equation for air state is as follows,
P0
ρa = [ ] (5)
Rg (1 − Yv ) + Rw Yw (273.15 + t0 )

where P0 is the ambient atmospheric pressure, Pa, Rg is the gas constant of dry air, Rw is the vapor constant, t0 is the ambient tem­
perature, ◦ C.
The cold air passes through the rain zone, fillings zone, water-spraying zone, water separator from bottom to top, and then
discharge from the tower. The resistance mainly includes the following parts.
The resistance of the fillings zone is as follows [11],

ΔP = ρa gMvNz (6)

in the above equation, ΔP is the pressure drop of air, Pa, vz is the air velocity in z direction, m/s, M and N are the constants determined
based on the experiment, M = − 0.001q2+0.0506q+1.05, N = − 0.001q2-0.0311q+1.976.
The resistance in the z direction of air in fillings zone can be expressed as follows [24],
ΔP
Fz = − (7)
Hfill

where Fz is the resistance of air in z direction, N/m3, Hfill is the thickness of the fillings, 1.25 m.
The resistance of water-spraying zone and rain zone is as follows [35]:
( )
6q 24 6 πdμ
Fz = − + √ ̅̅̅̅̅
̅ + 0.4 Re (vz + vwz ) (8)
ρ0 π|vwz |d3 Re 1 + Re 8

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Z. Zheng et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 28 (2021) 101403

where ρ0 is the density of water, kg/m3, vwz is the velocity of water droplet in the z direction, m/s, d is the diameter of the water drop,
m, Re is the Reynolds number of the air, vz is the velocity o\ air in z direction, m/s.
The circulating water as the heat source can be regarded as vertical movement in the tower. The mass and energy conservation
equations on the water side can be described as follows,
dq
= − Sm (9)
d(− z)

d
(cw tw q) = − Swe (10)
d(− z)

where q is the water drenching density, kg/(m2⋅s). cw is the heat capacity at constant pressure of water, J/(kg⋅◦ C), tw is the temperature
of circulating water, ◦ C, Swe is the energy reduction rate of water, W/m3.
The governing equation of water droplet motion is as follows,
dvwz (ρ − ρa )g fz
= 0 − (11)
d(− z) ρ0 · vwz mw · vwz

where mw is the mass of unit water droplet, kg, fz is the resistance of the water droplet in the z direction, N.

3.2. Heat and mass transfer between circulating water and air

The single membrane theory of convective mass transfer assumes that the water membrane surface in the cooling tower is wrapped
by a layer of saturated air membrane, the temperature of the air membrane is equal to the water temperature, and the relative humidity
in the air membrane is 1 [14,36], the mass and energy source term can be described as follows,
Sm = Ka (χ ′′ − χ ) (12)

Sae = (Kw + Sm cv )(tw − ta ) (13)

Swe = Kw (tw − ta ) + Sm rw (14)

where Ka is the convective mass transfer coefficient between unit volume of circulating water and air, kg/(m3⋅s), Kw is the convective
heat transfer coefficient between unit volume of circulating water and air, kw/(m3⋅◦ C), χ ”and χ are the humidity ratio of saturated air
layer and the humid air at the air-water interface, kg/kg, rw is the latent heat of water evaporation, J/kg.
Ka and Kw in the filling area are calculated as follows,
Ka = Bqm gna (15)

Kw = Lef Ka (16)

where Kw is the convective heat transfer coefficient between unit volume of circulating water and air, kw/(m3⋅◦ C), ga is the mass flow of
air, kg/(m2⋅s), B, m, n are constants based on the experiment, B = 1.648, m = 0.33, n = 0.67, Lef is the Lewis factor.
For water-spraying zone and rain zone, the equations for calculating Ka and Kw are [16,37],
γ( )
(17)
1/2
Ka = ρa Nwd Awd 2.0 + 0.6Rewd Sc1/3
a
d

λa ( )
(18)
1/2
Kw = Nwd Awd 2.0 + 0.6Rewd Pr1/3
a
d

where Nwd is the number of water droplets, Awd is the surface area of water droplet, m2, Rewd is the Reynolds number corresponding to
the equivalent water droplet diameter dwd, Sca is the Schmidt number of humid air, Pra is the Prandtl number of wet air, λa is the
thermal conductivity of air, W/(m⋅K). Part of the calculation models of heat and mass transfer in this paper refer to discrete phase
model [38], both of them have the same results.

3.3. The pressure drops of air flows through the inlet shutters

The flow characteristics of air in ventilation shutters can be simplified simulated by a one-dimensional pressure step model of
porous media. The pressure drop is calculated as follows,
( )
μ 1
ΔP = − + C2 ρa v2 Δm (19)
C1 2

in the simplified simulation equation, C1 is the surface permeability coefficient of porous medium, C2 is the pressure step coefficient,

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Z. Zheng et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 28 (2021) 101403

Δm is the thickness of the porous medium, m, v is the wind velocity, m/s.

In order to obtain the medium surface permeability coefficient C1 and pressure jump coefficient C2 that need to be set in the
pressure step model, a cuboid with a length of 20 m, a width of 5 m and a height of 5 m is established as the calculation domain. The
boundary conditions are set as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 shows the pressure drop ΔP of the shutters under different wind velocity v when the air flows through each angle of louvers β.
According to Eq. (19), the values of C1 and C2 at different louvers angles are fitted, and the results are shown in Table 1.

3.4. Boundary conditions and calculation methods

The cylindrical calculation domain as shown in Fig. 4 is established to study the influence of the noise barrier layout on the thermal
performance without crosswind. The overall calculation domain is divided into tower area and external flow field area. Hexahedral
structured grid is adopted for grid division, and it is densified at the air inlet of the tower wall. The diameter of the bottom of the
calculation domain is 600 m, and the height is 900 m, ignoring the influence of the tower on the airflow field [39]. The pressure inlet
boundary and pressure outlet boundary of the air are defined, the atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity values are all
taken as environmental values. The bottom of calculation domain, noise barrier and wall of the cooling tower are all set to non-slip wall
conditions, which are processed by the standard wall function method.
In this paper, Fluent software is used for simulation calculation. The flow field is solved by SIMPLE algorithm coupled with pressure
and velocity iteratively. The air pressure term is discretized by the Body Forced Weighed method, and the other variables of air and
water are discretized by the second-order upwind difference scheme. In the calculation process, the sub-relaxation method is used to
make the iterative solution converge stably. When the residual value of energy converges to 10− 6 and the residual of other variables
converges to 10− 4, the iterative process is considered to be convergent.

3.5. Grid independence verification and model validation

In this study, five grids with the cells number of 3029579, 3380813, 3674693, 3963833, and 4380493 are established. The grid
independence is verified according to the outlet water temperature t2. According to the calculation results in Table 2, it can be noticed
that when the cells number of grids increases from 3963833 to 4380493, it can be observed that the variation of outlet water tem­
perature is less than 0.01 ◦ C. Thus, the 3963833 grid is used for the next simulation calculation.
In order to verify the accuracy of the calculation model, three design conditions of the target cooling tower were numerically
simulated according to the established 3963833 grid model. The results are shown in Table 3.
The relative deviation σ of water temperature drop is defined as:
|tn2 − td2 |
σ= × 100% (20)
t1 − td2

where tn2 represents the numerical simulation outlet water temperature, ◦ C, tod represents the design outlet water temperature, ◦ C, t1 is
the inlet water temperature, ◦ C.
Based on Table 3, the maximum relative deviation of the water temperature drop is 3.11%, indicating that the three-dimensional
numerical model of wet cooling tower has high accuracy and is suitable for the following research and analysis, and the research
method and technical roadmap can be adopted to the different cooling towers [40].

4. Results and discussion

After the heat exchange between circulating water and cold air in tower, the updraft is formed and discharged from the outlet of the
tower, causing the pressure difference between the inside and outside, so the air is sucked into the tower. When the air flows through
the noise barrier, the pressure drop increases and the velocity slows down, leading the ventilation rate G to decreases. Many im­
provements could be achieved through adding ventilation shutters, such as reducing the pressure drop, acquiring higher air velocity
and increasing the airflow into the tower. The thermal performance of the tower is affected by the layout of noise barrier, the angle of
louvers β and the installation position of shutters. Under the operating conditions of E1 in Table 3, the thermal performance is
comprehensively evaluated by the outlet water temperature t2 and the G.

Fig. 2. Computational domain of shutter unit.

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Z. Zheng et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 28 (2021) 101403

Fig. 3. The pressure drops ΔP of the airflow through shutters at the angle of each louver under different wind velocity v.

Table 1
Fitting results of pressure drop and wind velocity.
Installation angle of louver β (◦ ) Surface permeability coefficient C1 Pressure step coefficient C2
− 5
30 1.927 × 10 13.720
5
60 6.264 × 10− 4.489
4
90 4.712 × 10− 0.014
5
120 7.803 × 10− 4.629
5
150 1.582 × 10− 13.463

Fig. 4. Calculation domain and grids sketch of the tower.

Table 2
Verification of grid independence.
Number of grids 3029579 3380813 3674693 3963833 4380493

Inlet water temperature t1 ( C)

◦
36.83 36.83 36.83 36.83 36.83
Outlet water temperature t2 (◦ C) 27.786 27.823 27.856 27.89 27.897
Deviation (◦ C) 0.364 0.327 0.294 0.26 0.253

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Table 3
Validation according to the actual working conditions of the target natural draft cooling tower.
Operating parameters E1 E2 E3

The atmospheric pressure P (Pa) 100407 101878 101702

The dry-bulb temperature tl (◦ C) 25.63 13.34 -2.3
Relative humidity ϕ (%) 72 62.8 64.3
Circulating water volume Gw (m3/h) 78750 78750 32358
Inlet water temperature t1 (◦ C) 36.83 27.96 29.47
Design average outlet water temperature td2 (◦ C) 28.15 19.28 15
Numerical average outlet water temperature tn2 (◦ C) 27.89 19.01 14.51
Relative deviation of water temperature drops σ (%) 3.11 3 3.04

4.1. The impact of noise barrier layout on the thermal performance

The influence of noise barrier on the thermal performance is studied when the installation central angle θ with 0◦ , 30◦ , 60◦ , 90◦ and
120◦ , the height H of 7.5 m, 10 m, 12.5 m and 15 m, and the installed distance L of 0 m, 5 m, 10 m and 15 m (Seen as Fig. 1).

4.1.1. The influence mechanism of noise barrier layout on thermal performance

The case with the L of 0 m and the H of 10 m is selected for research. Fig. 5 shows the contours of air velocity at θ = 0◦ , 30◦ , 60◦ , and
120◦ . When the θ is 0◦ , equivalent to the noise barrier is not installed, the air velocity on both sides of the tower is almost the same.
When the noise barrier is installed around the tower, the air flow rate on the both sides of tower begin to differ and no longer presents
uniform distribution. As the θ of noise barrier continues to increase, the inlet air uniformity of the cooling tower is further deteriorated,
and the range of low-velocity area continues to expand, which directly affects the airflow distribution in the rain zone. When the θ
reaches 120◦ , the difference of the air velocity between the side far away from the noise barrier (position I) and the side near the noise
barrier (position II) is about 1.8 m/s. It can be observed that the velocity of air entering the tower at the position I is almost the same,
while the velocity of the position II is significantly reduced, causing the decrease of the G of the tower.

Fig. 5. The contours of velocity at the surface of z = 10 m (H = 10 m, L = 0 m).

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It can be noticed that the noise barrier slows down the air velocity in tower and reduces the G, causing insufficient heat and mass
transfer process in the tower, which further deteriorates the thermal performance. With the expansion of the noise barrier, this adverse
effect gradually intensified.

4.1.2. The influence of noise barrier layout on the outlet water temperature
The t2 is an important parameter to evaluate thermal performance of the tower, and the variation law is shown in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6(a),
it can be seen that the change of the θ considerably impact the thermal performance of tower. When the θ is 0◦ , equivalent to no
installing of noise barrier, the t2 is 27.89 ◦ C. With the θ increasing, the t2 gradually rises. When the θ increases to 120◦ , and the H is 10
m, the t2 reaches the maximum value of 28.25 ◦ C, which is 0.36 ◦ C higher than that of no noise barrier. It can be observed that the t2
gradually increases with the θ, and as the L increases, the impact on the t2 decreases.
For the influence of the H on the t2, the pattern will change under different L. In Fig. 6(a), if the L is 0 m, and the θ of each H
increases, the t2 will increase, but the increase of the t2 is more prominent when the H reaches 10 m, the t2 will reach 28.25 ◦ C of the θ of
120◦ , 0.1 ◦ C higher than the H of 7.5 m. However, when the L gradually increases to over 5 m, as shown in Fig. 6(b) (c) (d), the higher
H, the stronger impact on the thermal performance of the tower, and this effect decreases with the increase of the L. When the L is 15 m
and the θ is 120◦ , the temperature difference between the highest t2 (15 m in height) and the lowest t2 (7.5 m in height) is only 0.03 ◦ C.
Besides the θ and the H, the L is also an important factor affecting the thermal performance. Under various sizes of noise barriers,
the farther L, the weaker impact on the thermal performance. Taking the θ of 120◦ and the H of 15 m as an example, as shown in Fig. 6
(a), the t2 at 0 m away from the tower is 28.17 ◦ C, Fig. 6(d) shows the t2 at 15 m from the tower is 27.94 ◦ C, 0.23 ◦ C lower than 0 m.
In summary, the larger θ of noise barrier, the stronger impact on the thermal performance, but the impact of the H shows a different
law. When the L is 0 m, the noise barrier of 10 m in height has the strongest impact on the thermal performance. As the L increases to 5
m and above, the higher H, the higher t2. As for the influence of L, the farther L, the weaker impact on the thermal performance. In the
case of θ = 120◦ , H = 10 m, and L = 0 m, the t2 reaches the maximum value of 28.25 ◦ C, which is about 0.36 ◦ C higher than that without
noise barrier.

4.1.3. The influence of noise barrier layout on ventilation rate in tower

The G is also one of the important parameters to evaluate the performance of the tower, the regular variation is shown in Fig. 7.
The noise barrier increases the ventilation resistance of airflow into the tower and hinders the airflow. It can be observed from Fig. 7
(a) that with the θ increases, the G of the tower decreases continuously. Taking the H of 10 m as an example, the maximum G is
10987.44 kg/s when the noise barrier is not installed. When the θ is 120◦ , it drops to minimum of 10235.50 kg/s, reducing by about

Fig. 6. The change curves of the t2 with different θ, H and L.

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Fig. 7. The change curves of the G with different θ, H and L.

6.8%.
The influence of the H on the G will be distinct under different L. When the L is 0 m, as shown in Fig. 7(a), when the H is 10 m, the G
has the largest decrease, which is about 228.10 kg/s less than the H is 7.5 m. However, when the L gradually increases to above 5 m, as
shown in Fig. 7 (b)(c)(d), the G decreases with the increase of the H. When the L is 15 m and the θ is 120◦ , the difference between the
maximum G (7.5 m in height) and the minimum G (15 m in height) is about 34.52 kg/s.
The farther L, the weaker adverse impact on the G. Taking the θ of 120◦ as an example, the difference of the maximum G at 0 m, 5 m,
10 m, 15 m from the tower is 228.10 kg/s, 105.99 kg/s, 65.54 kg/s, and 34.52 kg/s, showing a gradual downward trend.
To sum up, the larger θ, the less G of the tower. However, the impact of the H shows a different law. When the L is 0 m, the noise
barrier with the height of 10 m has the strongest blocking effect on the airflow into the tower. As the distance reaching to 5 m or above,
the higher H, the less air flows into the tower. The farther L, the weaker impact on the G. When the θ is 120◦ , the H is 10 m, and the L is
0 m, the G is reduced to the lowest when the noise barrier is 0 m away from the tower, which is 10235.50 kg/s, about 6.8% less than
that without noise barrier.

4.2. The impact of ventilation shutters layout on thermal performance

In order to reduce the resistance of the noise barrier to airflow, this paper proposes a method of installing ventilation shutters on the
noise barrier. The gap between the louvers is used to make the air flows through the noise barrier, which can increase the airflow into
the tower and improve the thermal performance.
In this paper, the arc-shaped noise barrier at the θ of 120◦ , the H of 10 m, and the L of 0 m is selected to add shutters for research.
There are three different installation positions of shutters, which are installed at the top (9.5 m in height), middle (5 m in height) and
bottom (0.5 m in height) of the noise barrier. The variation of the G, the t2 with the β and the installation position of louvers are shown
in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9.
As shown in Fig. 8, after installing ventilation shutters, the airflow field at the inlet of tower has been optimized, and to a certain
extent, the G has been improved. When the ventilation shutters are installed on the top of the noise barrier, there is no significant
change of the G with different β, the average value is about 10293.53 kg/s, only 58.03 kg/s higher compared to the one of ventilation
shutters is uninstalled. When the shutters are installed on the middle and bottom, they have the same trend. The angle of the louvers
increases from 30◦ , the G in tower increases continuously, reaching the maximum value at the angle of 90◦ . When the shutters are
installed on the middle, the G is 10501.95 kg/s, which is increased by 2.6% compared with the case that of no shutters. When installed
on the bottom, its value is 10473.77 kg/s, which is increased by 2.3%. At this time, the horizontal projection area of the ventilation
shutters is the smallest, and the airflow can directly pass through the shutters then enter the tower, improving the effect of ventilation.
As the louvres angle continues to increase from 90◦ , the G begins to drop and eventually returns to the ventilation when the shutters are
not installed.

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Fig. 8. The ventilation rate G under different shutters installation schemes.

Fig. 9. The outlet water temperature t2 under different shutters installation schemes.

As shown in Fig. 9, when the shutters are installed on the top of noise barrier, the β almost shows no effects on t2, the average value
is 28.21 ◦ C, which is only 0.04 ◦ C lower than that of no ventilation shutters. When installed on the middle and the bottom, the trend is
the same. When the β increases from 30◦ , the t2 gradually decreases, reaching the lowest value at the angle of 90◦ , which is 28.08 ◦ C in
the middle and 28.10 ◦ C at the bottom. It is 0.17 ◦ C and 0.15 ◦ C lower than the t2 when ventilation shutters are not installed,
respectively. Compared with the top installation scheme, the reduction of the t2 is larger. When the β continues to increase from 90◦ ,
the t2 will continue to rise until it returns to the temperature without shutters.
In conclusion, the installation of ventilation shutters on the noise barrier can increase the G, leading to the decrease of the t2 and
improving the cooling capacity of the tower. In order to achieve the optimal improvement effect, the shutters can be installed on the
middle of the noise barrier, and the β is 90◦ .

5. Conclusion

In order to study the influence of noise barrier on the thermal performance of cooling tower, this paper establishes a three-
dimensional numerical model of natural draft wet cooling tower with noise barrier, and proposes the installation of ventilation
shutters on the noise barrier to reduce the adverse effects.

(1) The existence of noise barrier increases the air inlet resistance of cooling tower and reduces the airflow velocity. A low-velocity
zone appears around the air inlet of tower, which leads to the decrease of ventilation rate G and weakens the heat and mass
transfer between air and water. This adverse impact gradually aggravates with the intensification of the noise barrier’s influence
on the tower.
(2) The thermal performance deteriorates continuously along with the increase of the central angle θ and the height H of noise
barrier, as well as the decrease of the installing distance L. The values of G and t2 are 10235.50 kg/s and 28.25 ◦ C, respectively,
in the case of θ = 120◦ , H = 10 m, and L = 0 m, which has the most adverse effect on the thermal performance of the tower.

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(3) The pressure drop of air is different under different installation methods, which changes the air influx of the tower. When the
shutters are installed on the middle of the noise barrier and the angle of the louvers β is 90◦ , the G of the tower reaches to
10501.95 kg/s, which is 2.6% higher than the case without ventilation shutters. Meanwhile, the t2 is 28.08 ◦ C, which is reduced
by 0.17 ◦ C, and the thermal performance reaches the optimal value.

Author statement

Zhirui Zheng: Software, Data curation, Writing - Original draft preparation, Writing - Review & Editing, Deying Zhang: Review &
Editing, Zhengqing Zhang: Conceptualization, Methodology, Lei Jiang: Resources, Validation, Project administration, Suoying He:
Project administration, Ming Gao: Conceptualization, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgments

This paper is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51776111), the Key Research and Development
Project of Shandong Province (2019GSF109084) and Young Scholars Program of Shandong University (YSPSDU), No. 2018WLJH73.

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