Evaluation of exhaust performance of cooling towers in a super high-rise building: A case study

Abstract

The exhaust performance of a cooling tower placed in the interior space of a building is crucial due to limited space and stochastic ambient wind conditions. Improper design of the cooling tower could lead to a reduction in thermal efficiency and could also deteriorate the operational performance of the chillers. In this paper, the exhaust performance of cooling towers in a super high-rise building considering both side exhaust and interlayer exhaust methods is investigated using CFD simulations. The results show that the exhaust performance of cooling towers under interlayer exhaust is better than that under side exhaust. However, the exhaust recirculation phenomenon of the cooling towers on the windward side caused by outdoor wind is still obvious because the outdoor wind speed is low. The total pressure differences between the inlet and outlet of the tower units under interlay exhaust become larger with increases in wind speed in each district. The fan total head should be carefully determined to overcome the surplus pressure drop caused by the wind. This study helps to guide other similar cases utilizing the interior space of buildings for the cooling towers.