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ELITTECOLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
(KARNAMADHAVPUR, GHOLA, SODEPUR, Kolkata, West Bengal 700113)

CA1

❑ Name : Arpan Dey

❑ University Roll No : 34600720090
❑ Semester : 8th
❑ Subject : POWER PLANT ENGINEERING
❑ Topic : Derive the expression of chimney height for natural
draught define the term 'circulation ratio’ in a water tube boiler. 1
Derive the expression of chimney height for natural
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draught: edit Master title style

Draught is the pressure difference which causes a flow of air or gases from one point to another point in the
boiler system. Draught is required in a boiler system mainly due to two reasons.
1. To supply sufficient air for completing the combustion.
2. To remove flue gases from the system after combustion and the heat exchange.
There are two types of draught applied to the boiler system
1. The natural draught
2. The forced draught
We will discuss here in this article about natural draught. The natural draught is always preferred since it does not need
any running cost although it has a big initial cost. Natural draught allows natural circulation of air through the boiler
system. The natural draught mainly depends upon the height of the chimney.
• Function of draught:
1. To supply required quantity of air to the boiler furnace for the combustion of fuel.
2. 2. To remove exhaust gases from the boiler passage to maintain flow of air and gases.
3. 3. To create pressure difference against pressure losses in the flow passage. To discharge the exhaust gases such that
they will not be objectionable or injurious to the surroundings.
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Derive the expression of chimney height for natural draught:

• Draught is nothing but pressure difference required to accelerate the burnt gases to their final
velocity and to overcome the pressure losses in the boiler passage.
Draught = [head required to accelerate the gases] +[head losses in the path of flue gases]

Where, “P” is the pressure of air or gas, “ρ” is the density of the air or gas, “g” is the gravitational constant, and “h” is the height of the
head.

Here “V” is the volume of the air or gas, “m” is the mass of the gas or air, “T” is the temperature measured in kelvin scale and “R” is the gas
constant.
Equation (2) can be rewritten as

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Derive the expression of chimney height for natural draught

During combustion process in the furnace, mainly carbon reacts with oxygen (O2) of the air and
forms carbon dioxide (CO2). The volume of the solid carbon compared to the required air for the
reaction is negligible. Because of that, we can consider that the volume of air required for
combustion is exactly equal to the volume of the flue gases created after combustion if we assume
temperature before and after combustion are same. But this is not the actual case. The air entries
in the combustion chamber will gain extra volume after combustion due to combustion
temperature. The gained volume of the air will be equivalent to the volume of the flue gases
created after combustion.

Let us assume, ρo is the density of the air at 0oC or 273 K, and say it is To
Here, P is the pressure of air at 0oC or 273 K, that is at To K.
If we keep, the pressure P as constant, the relation between density and temperature of the air or gases can be written as,

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Calculations: Master title style
Where, ρa and ρg is the density of the air at temperature Ta and Tg K respectively.

From, equation (1) and (5) we can write the expression of pressure at point “a” outside the chimney, as

The volume of the air at the temperature Tg would be

Let us assume, m kg of air is required to burn 1 kg of carbon then the density of the flue gas would be

The pressure of the flue gas inside the chimney from equation (1) and (8), would be
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Click the
Derive to edit Master
expression title style
of chimney height for natural draught:

The pressure difference between outside and inside of the chimney from equation 96) and (9) would be.

Here, “h” is the minimum height of the chimney to be constructed for the draught ΔP. The flue gas will flow
upwards through the chimney due to this pressure difference. So, by calculating this pressure difference one
can easily calculate the approximate height of the chimney to be constructed. The pressure difference can be
represented as a formula for calculating the height of the chimney for a natural draught.

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Click to edit
circulation ratioMaster title style
in water-tube boiler:

Abstract. The basic objective of the paper is to identify the desired circulation ratio for the natural circulation of water tube boilers in
different operating conditions. This requires the basic study of heat flux and the mode of the boiling heat transfer, and the phenomenon like
departure from nucleate boiling and tube overheating. The parameters, which need to be studied are heat flux, pressure, dryness fraction,
void fraction, liquid velocity and their impact on the required circulation ratio. For a natural circulation boiler, the circulation ratio is one of the
most important design parameters as the other design parameter like critical heat flux and skin temperature are mainly derived from the
circulation ratio. The required circulation ratio can vary with the boiler pressure, liquid velocity and maximum heat flux. This study is intended
to provide input for the safe and optimum design of a natural circulation boiler.

Introduction. The continuous motion of water and steam mixture ensures continuous and efficient removal of heat from the heating
surface of the boiler. This motion is usually referred to as circulation. Boilers with natural circulation have a wide range of applications such
as power cycles and industrial heating processes. The motive force driving the steam/water mixture through the tubes (water tube boilers) or
over tubes (fire tube boilers) in natural-circulation systems is the difference in density between cooler water in the downcomer circuits and
the steam/water mixture in the riser tubes. This flow must be adequate to cool the tubes and prevent overheating. As this flow involves two-
phase flow, the flow pattern is a very important parameter in designing of the steam generator. The flow pattern strongly affects the flow
stability and heat transfer characteristics in a steam generating equipment. This study explains the role of the circulation ratio on the efficient
and reliable operation of a boiler.

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Click to edit Master title style
circulation Ratio: The ratio of the actual mass flow through the circuit to the steam generated is
called circulation ratio. 𝐶𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = 𝑚𝑠+𝑚𝑤 𝑚𝑠 (1) This is primarily the reciprocal of the
outlet dryness fraction. The circulation ratio is the function of tube diameter, no. of tubes, tube
orientation, rate of heat transfer & the available height.

The flow of water through a circuit should be more than the steam generated to protect the tube from overheating. The Boiler tubes, its
feeding downcomer pipes, relief tubes/pipes are arranged in such a way that the desired flow be obtained to safeguard the tubes. Circulation
ratio (CR) by itself does not give a complete picture of the circulation system. CR must be used in conjunction with heat flux, steam pressure,
tube size, orientation, the roughness of tubes, water quality, etc., to understand the boiling process and its reliability. The following can be the
impact of the lower circulation ratio. Tube deformation/tube leakage failures/tube to fin weld failures take place. The failure mode varies
depending upon the flow, heat input, tube size, boiler configuration, and water quality.

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• Circulation ratio is defined as the ratio of the mass of the steam/water mixture to the mass of steam at the exit of the evaporator tube field. A
circulation ratio of 5:1 means there is five times as much water flowing through the downcomer and into the tubes than steam being generated in
the tubes. If 100,000 lb/h of steam is being generated in the tubes at a circulation ratio of 5:1; 500,000 lb/h of water is flowing in the downcomer
(100,000 lb/h of which is boiled while the remaining 400,000 lb/h is separated in the steam drum and will reenter the drum water storage volume).
• Maintaining the circulation ratio within proper design values promotes strong cooling of the tubes; operation in areas of good flow regime and assists
in maintaining stable circulating flow. As with many other parameters discussed in this chapter, recommended values for minimum circulation ratio
will vary with operating pressure.

• Void fraction :In two-phase flow, void fraction is defined as the ratio of the gas flow area to the total flow area. It is
• the function of the volume flow rates volumetric flux of the gas, volumetric flux of the liquid, liquid
• density, Vapour density & surface tension geometrical dimensional of channel & mass fluxes of the
• steam & water. In steam water two-phase flow, the properties of steam & water are the function pressure
• consequently the void fraction reduces to the function of mass fluxes, the steam quality & the channel
• dimension.
• According to smith’s (1969) empirical formula for void fraction, Void fraction is the function of
• steam quality and the density ratio, which in turn is the function of pressure but independent of mass
• flow rate and channel dimension. his correlation can be used to analyze the effect of dryness fraction on void fraction, which is an
• important parameter for the reliability consideration of steam generating equipment.
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 Types of water circulation in water tube boilers:
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Natural Circulation Master
In Boiler: Boiler title
feed water which style
is pumped with high pressure boiler feed water pumps first reaches at economizer. Here
temperature of the boiler feed water is around the saturation temperature corresponding to its pressure.
• Saturation temperature means the temperature at which water vaporization is starts for a given pressure. It is also called the boiling point of water.
Feed water flows through economizer gets further heated by flue gas and enters into the steam drum. Steam drum acts as a pressure vessel and
separates steam and water from steam water mixture.
• Normally steam drum water level is maintained around 50%.It means steam drum is half filled with water & remaining 50% above the water level
contains steam. Water inside the drum flows down through down comer pipes and distributed by bottom header to water walls.
• Down comer pipes are outside the boiler furnace while water walls are inside the furnace. Water rises through water wall tubes are exposed to
furnace heat. When water rises upside in tubes, a portion of the water is converted into steam and continue to rise upwards as a mixture of steam
and water.
• Heat absorbed in water wall is latent heat of vaporization creating a mixture of steam and water.
• The ratio of the weight of water to the weight of steam in the mixture leaving the heat absorption surface is called circulation ratio. This mixture is
continuously rises till it reaches back to the steam drum. Separated steam from steam drum is sent to the turbine.
• The value of circulation ratio varies from 6 to 30 in industrial boilers. Circulation ratio for utility high pressure boilers is between 6 to 9. Circulation
ratio is higher side as the density difference between steam & water is high.
• Medium pressure industrial boilers adopted higher circulation ratio. These boilers have to respond quick load changes.
• The circulation, in this case, takes place on the basis of thermo-siphon principle. The Down comer contains relatively cold water, whereas the riser
tubes contain a steam & water mixture, whose density is comparatively less.
• This density difference is the driving force, for the mixture. Circulation takes place at such a rate that the driving force and frictional resistance are
balanced.
• As the pressure increases, the difference in density between water and steam decreases. Thus the hydrostatic head available will not be able to
overcome the frictional resistance for a flow corresponding to the minimum requirement of cooling of water wall tubes.
• Therefore natural circulation is limited to boiler with drum operating pressure around 175 kg/cm2.
• #2.Controlled Circulation In Boiler: If the Operating pressure of boiler is between 180 kg/cm2 to 200 kg/cm2 then circulation in boiler is to be
assisted with mechanical pumps, to overcome frictional losses. To regulate the flow through various tubes, orifice plates are used.
• #3.Combined Circulation In Boiler: This circulation in boiler is applicable to the boilers which are operating at critical pressure. In this system phase
transformation is absent means water is directly converted into the steam at these pressure and temperature. Generally, operating pressure of this10
system is 260 Kg/cm2.
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REFERENCES:
• https://watertreatmentbasics.com/circulation-in-boiler/
• https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/1473/1/012026
• https://www.electrical4u.com/natural-draught-and-chimney/
• https://www.transtutors.com/questions/1-derive-an-expression-for-
draught-produced-in-terms-of-height-of-chimney-ambient-an-
5705249.htm
• https://www.deepakkumaryadav.in/2021/11/natural-draught.html
• https://www.trc.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Plans-
policies/AirPlan/raqp-appendix8.pdf

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