Abstract
Optimization of vane positions in a mechanical draft wet-cooling tower is
presented in this paper. The originally installed, equally spaced, vanes
produced non-uniform air velocity distribution reducing the performance of
the fill of the cooling tower. A 2D CFD model of the tower has been
created. The model has then been used to determine the objective function
in the optimization procedure. The selected objective function was the
standard deviation of the velocity of air entering the fill. The Goal
Driven Optimization tools of the ANSYSWorkbench 2.0 have been used for the
optimization and the ANSYS Fluent 13.0 as a flow solver. The optimization
allowed reduction of the objective function and producing a more uniform
air flow.
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