Numerical simulation of heat transfer performance of an air-cooled steam condenser in a thermal power plant

Numerical simulation of the thermal-flow characteristics and heat transfer performance is made of an air-cooled steam condenser (ACSC) in a thermal power plant by considering the effects of ambient wind speed and direction, air-cooled platform height, location of the main factory building and terrain condition. A simplified physical model of the ACSC combined with the measured data as input parameters is used in the simulation. The wind speed effects on the heat transfer performance and the corresponding steam turbine back pressure for different heights of the air-cooled platform are obtained. It is found that the turbine back pressure (absolute pressure) increases with the increase of wind speed and the decrease of platform height. This is because wind can not only reduce the flowrate in the axial fans, especially at the periphery of the air-cooled platform, due to cross-flow effects, but also cause an air temperature increase at the fan inlet due to hot air recirculation, resulting in the deterioration of the heat transfer performance. The hot air recirculation is found to be the dominant factor because the main factory building is situated on the windward side of the ACSC.