Wind Influence Upon Cooling Water Circulation

A field investigation performed in a cooling water circuit (formed by a wide canal) of an existing power plant shows the important influence of wind upon cooling water circulation. With the aid of measured float tracks a coefficient n could be estimated indicating which part of the cooling water, leaving the outlet channel is flowing directly to the inlet channels. This coefficient n was found to depend on the wind direction. Also a method was found to determine the temperature in the mouth of the outlet channel. In this way a relationship could be derived between the inlet temperatures and determining wind conditions. For the power plant under consideration the relationship was compared with available records of the inlet temperature. An adequate starting point was given to determine if the existing power plant can be enlarged without creating difficult conditions for the supply of cooling water.