Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2610e2615

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

The effect of screens on air-cooled steam condenser performance under windy

conditions
M.T.F. Owen*, D.G. Krger
Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Stellenbosch 7599, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 30 April 2010
Accepted 19 July 2010
Available online 23 July 2010

The effect of porous wind screens, installed in a cross-type arrangement below the fan platform, on the
performance of El Dorado Power Plants 6
5 fan air-cooled steam condenser (ACC) under windy
conditions is investigated using computational uid dynamics. The existing wind screen conguration is
found to increase ACC performance under windy conditions relative to the no screens case. The ACC
performance enhancement can be attributed to an increase in the performance of the fans upstream of
the wind screens brought about by the stagnation effect of the screens on the ow below the fan
platform. The potential for further ACC performance enhancement at El Dorado is identied since the
existing screen conguration is found to reduce the performance of the fans downstream of its location.
An improved screen conguration consisting of screens with a loss coefcient of Ksc 10 installed to half
the fan platform height, with the remaining space below the fan platform left open, is identied for El
Dorado. This conguration provides the favorable stagnation effect upstream of its location while having
less of a detrimental effect on the downstream fans. It is further found that additional performance
benets could be gained under the prevailing wind conditions at El Dorado by relocating the NeS
orientated screens by one fan row, thus increasing the number of fans operating in the benecial
upstream stagnation region.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Air-cooled steam condenser
CFD modeling
Wind effects
Wind screens

1. Introduction
The use of mechanical draft air-cooled steam condensers (ACCs)
is becoming more widespread in direct cooled thermoelectric
power plants due to economic and environmental considerations
[1]. Ensuring adequate and predictable ACC cooling performance is
critical to the efcient operation of such plants and ultimately the
entire energy network [2].
The use of air as the cooling medium in an ACC means that the
heat transfer rate is directly inuenced by ambient conditions such
as wind, temperature and atmospheric instabilities. It is well
documented that wind has a negative effect on the performance of
forced draft ACCs as a result of both reduced fan performance and
hot plume recirculation [3,4].
Owen [5] developed an efcient and reliable computational
uid dynamics (CFD) model of El Dorado Energys (480 MWe
combined cycle natural gas/steam power plant, Nevada, USA) 6
5
fan ACC using the commercially available CFD software, FLUENT.
The accuracy of the model was veried through a comparison of

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 27 72 210 8604; fax: 27 21 808 4206.

E-mail address: 14359855@sun.ac.za (M.T.F. Owen).
1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2010.07.017

numerical results to test data and it was found that the model was
capable of predicting the steam turbine exhaust temperature,
which is directly dependant on ACC performance, associated with
four periods of varying ambient conditions to within 0.72  C of the
measured values [5]. Using this model, the effects of wind on ACC
performance at El Dorado were investigated and the two mechanisms of ACC performance degradation under windy conditions,
namely reduced fan performance and plume recirculation as
described in Ref. [3], were successfully identied. It was further
found that reduced fan performance is the primary contributor to
the reduction in performance experienced by El Dorados ACC
under windy conditions [5]. Attempts at improving ACC performance under windy conditions at El Dorado should therefore focus
on improving fan performance with recirculation being of
secondary importance in this case.
A number of investigations have been undertaken in an attempt
to identify, quantify and mitigate the negative effects of wind on
ACC performance. Recent examples of such investigations include
Refs. [2,4,6,7,9]. It is well documented that fan performance can be
improved by increasing the fan platform height above the ground
[3,5]. This is primarily due to the fact that raising the fan platform
results in an increase in the ow area under the fans and, subsequently, reduced cross-ow accelerations [3]. An empirical

M.T.F. Owen, D.G. Krger / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2610e2615

Nomenclature
c
E
e
H
K
N
n
p
Q
S
T
v
V

W
z

specic heat, J/kg K

east
effectiveness
height, m
loss coefcient
north
number
pressure, N/m2
heat transfer rate, W
south
temperature,  C
velocity, m/s
volume ow rate, m3/s

2611

west
variable

Greek symbols
r
density, kg/m3
Subscripts
a
air
F
fan
i
fan inlet or numerical index
j
numerical index
id
ideal
sc
screen
w
wind
v
vapour

relationship between fan volumetric effectiveness and fan platform

height is derived by Salta and Krger [8]. Furthermore, Salta and
Krger [8] found through experimental methods that the addition
of a solid walkway or skirt around the periphery of the ACC, at the
fan platform height, reduces the negative effects of wind on the
performance of the periphery fans. This was later conrmed
numerically by Bredell et al. [9]. It has also been shown that the
type of fan inlet shroud has a marked effect on fan performance
under windy conditions [3] but that the optimum shroud conguration is dependent on factors such as fan platform height
amongst others [10].
Wind screens constructed of porous material have been
installed in a cross-type arrangement under the fan platform at El
Dorado in an attempt to improve fan performance under windy
conditions. This article will evaluate the effect of these screens on
ACC performance under windy conditions and investigate alternative wind screen congurations in an attempt to further improve
the performance of El Dorados ACC under such conditions.
2. Evaluation of current wind screen conguration at El
Dorado
El Dorado has wind screens installed below the fan platform in
a conguration as illustrated in Fig. 1 and described in Table 1. The
wind screen locations and the fan numbering scheme are illustrated in Fig. 2.
The porous wind screens are modeled using FLUENTs radiator
boundary condition with loss coefcients as specied in Table 1 and
the heat transfer coefcient set to zero. The high loss coefcient
material (Ksc N) is modeled using the wall boundary condition.
Fig. 3 illustrates the effect of the current wind screen conguration on ACC performance, and the subsequent effect on the steam
turbine exhaust pressure (hereafter referred to as backpressure),
under windy conditions. In Fig. 3 straight-ow refers to an x-direction, or southerly wind while cross-ow refers to a south-westerly

(positive x-, negative y-direction) wind (see Figs. 1 and 2). The wind
speed at fan platform height, as described in [5], is given by vw. Q/Qid
is the overall ACC heat transfer effectiveness dened as the ratio of
the ACC heat transfer rate under the prescribed operating conditions, calculated from the numerical results as shown in equation
(1), to the heat transfer rate under ideal or no wind operating
conditions, calculated as shown in equation (2). The ambient pressure and temperature are pa and Ta respectively and Tv(id) represents
the design steam turbine exhaust temperature at the given ambient
temperature.

6 X
5
X



maij cpa eij Tv  Taij

(1)

i1 j1



Qid nF maid cpa eid Tvid  Ta

(2)

In equation (1), maij and Taij are respectively the numerically

predicted mass ow rate of air through, and temperature at the
inlet to, fan (i,j); cpa is the isobaric specic heat of dry air at the
ambient temperature Ta; and eij is the heat transfer effectiveness
through the nned tube heat exchanger (determined as a function
of the heat transfer characteristics of the nned tubes). In equation
(2), nF is the number of fan units, ma(id) is the design ow rate
through each fan, and eid is the heat transfer effectiveness through
the heat exchanger under ideal operating conditions.

Table 1
Loss coefcients (Ksc 2Dpsc/rav2) of the wind screen material currently installed at
El Dorado.

Screen
Screen
Screen
Screen

layer
layer
layer
layer

4
3
2
1

Fig. 1. Wind screen conguration at El Dorado.

NeS screens

EeW screens

2
10
N
N

5
10
N
N

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M.T.F. Owen, D.G. Krger / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2610e2615

Fig. 4. Effect of the current wind screen conguration on fan volumetric effectiveness
for a straight-ow wind speed of vw 9 m/s.

Fig. 2. Wind screen locations and fan numbering scheme (plan view).

Equating equations (1) and (2) and rearranging yields an

expression for the numerically predicted steam turbine exhaust
temperature under the prescribed operating conditions as shown
in equation (3).

P
P5
Qid 6i 1
j 1 maij cpa eij Taij
Tv
P6 P5
i1
j 1 maij cpa eij

(3)

This temperature can then be used to determine the steam

turbine backpressure using the correlations illustrated in equations
(4) and (5), as given in Ref. [1].

pv 10z ; N=m2

(4)

where,

z 10:795861  273:16=Tv 5:02808 log10 273:16=Tv

h
i
1:50474
104 1  108:29692Tv =273:161 4:2873
i
h

104 104:769551273:16=Tv  1 2:786118312

(5)

Fig. 3 clearly illustrates that the current wind screen conguration results in improved overall ACC heat transfer effectiveness
and subsequently reduced steam turbine backpressure (a 3.96%
improvement in ACC heat transfer effectiveness is predicted, corresponding to a 16.21 MW increase in heat transfer rate and
603.87 N/m2 decrease in backpressure, for a straight-ow wind
speed of vw 9 m/s) at El Dorado under windy conditions. The

performance enhancement is brought about by an increase in the

performance of the fans upstream of the wind screen location, as
shown in Fig. 4 where VF/VF(id) is the ratio of the actual and design
ow rate through the fans.
This improved fan performance upstream of the screens is
a result of the stagnation effect caused by the screens upstream of
their location. This effect can be clearly seen in Fig. 5 which illustrates contours of static pressure along a section parallel to the
wind direction through the centre of the ACC. A region of increased
static pressure is evident immediately upstream of the wind screen
location.
The results presented in Fig. 4 also indicate that the performance of the fans immediately downstream of the wind screen
location is reduced. It is suspected that the current screen conguration is causing an excessive blockage effect and is effectively
suffocating the downstream fans. This is evident in the low static
pressure region downstream of the screen location (see Fig. 5). It
follows that the identication of some improved wind screen
conguration that creates a favorable stagnation effect upstream of
its location, without signicantly reducing the performance of the
downstream fans, would be of value to further improving the
performance of El Dorados ACC under windy conditions.

3. Evaluation of alternative wind screen congurations

Six alternative wind screen congurations were evaluated in an
attempt to nd an improved conguration at El Dorado. Table 2
describes the congurations considered (note that Ksc 0 represents an open space, i.e. no screen material is installed in these
locations). The same conguration is used for the NeS and EeW
orientated screens and the wind screen locations remain
unchanged from that illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3. Effect of current wind screen conguration on ACC performance and steam turbine backpressure.

M.T.F. Owen, D.G. Krger / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2610e2615

2613

Fig. 5. Static pressure (N/m2) below the fan platform for a straight-ow wind speed of
vw 9 m/s.

The effect of the screen congurations on ACC heat transfer

effectiveness is illustrated in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 shows that it is possible to improve the ACC performance
at El Dorado, under straight and cross-ow wind conditions
through the installation of an alternative wind screen conguration
in the current wind screen location. Conguration 6 (where high
loss coefcient screens are installed to a height of Hsc/Hi 0.5 and
the remaining space below the fan platform is left open) appears to
provide the best performance in general, with performance
enhancements comparable to the other congurations at low and
intermediate wind speeds and superior performance at high wind
speeds. The effect of changing the current wind screen conguration to Conguration 6 is illustrated in more detail in Fig. 7 where it
can be seen that an increase in overall ACC heat transfer effectiveness of 3.2% (corresponding to approximately a 11.6 MW heat
rejection rate increase and a 434.76 N/m2 decrease in steam turbine
backpressure) is predicted under straight-ow wind conditions
with vw 9 m/s.
A comparison of the volumetric effectivenesses of the ACC fans
for the current screen conguration and Conguration 6 is shown
in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the current wind screen conguration
has a larger positive effect on the performance of the fans upstream
of the wind screen location. This is to be expected since the current
conguration provides a greater obstruction to the ow under
the ACC and as such has a more signicant stagnation effect. The
superior performance of Conguration 6 is as a result of the
improved performance of the fans downstream of the wind screen
location relative to the current conguration. This is caused by
a reduction of the choking effect of the wind screens on the
downstream fans brought about by the removal of the screens in
screen layers 3 and 4.
It appears that an improved wind screen conguration has
been identied in the form of Conguration 6. It was hypothesized that using a screen material with a lower loss coefcient in
screen layers 1 and 2 in this conguration may result in further
ACC performance enhancement. The results of an investigation

Fig. 6. Effect of alternative wind screen congurations on ACC performance under (a)
straight-ow and (b) cross-ow wind conditions.

into the effect of the wind screen loss coefcient on ACC

performance, illustrated in Fig. 9, indicate that an optimum loss
coefcient exists in the range 5  Ksc  10 for Screen Conguration 6. For vw 9 m/s the optimum lies closer to Ksc 10. Since
ACC performance is most severely affected at high wind speeds,
Ksc 10 was selected as the optimum wind screen loss coefcient for Conguration 6.
The question now remains whether the wind screen height, Hsc/
Hi 0.5, remains the optimum height if the screen loss coefcient is
reduced to Ksc 10. Fig. 10 shows the results of an investigation into
the effect of wind screen height on ACC performance for a screen
loss coefcient of Ksc 10, and indicates that Hsc/Hi 0.5 remains
the optimum screen height.

Table 2
Alternative wind screen congurations.
Ksc 2Dpsc/rav2
Cong.
Screen layer
Screen layer
Screen layer
Screen layer

4
3
2
1

1
5
10
N
N

2
5
10
15
N

3
2
5
10
N

4
5
5
N
N

5
0
10
N
N

6
0
0
N
N

Fig. 7. Effect of Conguration 6 on ACC performance under straight-ow wind

conditions.

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M.T.F. Owen, D.G. Krger / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2610e2615

Fig. 8. A comparison of the effect of an alternative wind screen conguration on ACC

fan performance at El Dorado under straight-ow wind conditions.

Fig. 10. Effect of wind screen height on ACC performance for Ksc 10 under straightow wind conditions.

4. Relocating the NeS wind screens

Fig. 4 illustrates that the fans upstream of the wind screen
location benet from the presence of screens while those downstream of the screens can experience reduced performance. Wind
screens should therefore be installed in a location that benets the
most fans under the prevailing wind conditions at a particular
plant.
At El Dorado the prevailing wind is from the south-west (analogous to the cross-ow wind condition considered in this study).
Moving the NeS wind screen one fan row in the negative y-direction in Fig. 2 (i.e. to between fan rows 2 and 3 from between rows 3
and 4) would increase the number of fans upstream of the wind
screen location under the aforementioned wind condition.
The result of relocating the NeS wind screen on ACC performance under cross-ow wind conditions is illustrated in Fig. 11. It is
clear that this relocation is benecial to ACC performance under the

Fig. 9. Effect of wind screen loss coefcient on ACC performance under (a) Straightow, and (b) Cross-ow wind conditions for Screen Conguration 6.

Fig. 11. Effect of relocating NeS wind screen on ACC performance under cross-ow
wind conditions.

prevailing wind at El Dorado. An ACC cooling effectiveness increase

of 1.4%, corresponding to a 5.89 MW increase in the heat rejection
rate and a 236.39 N/m2 decrease in turbine backpressure is predicted for a cross-ow wind of vw 9 m/s.
5. Conclusion
It was found that the installation of wind screens, in a cross-type
arrangement, under the ACC fan platform was always benecial to
the performance of the fans upstream of the screen location under
windy conditions at El Dorado. The improvement in upstream fan
performance can be attributed to the stagnation effect of the
screens on the ow in this location. Such a screen installation could,
however, create too large an obstruction to the ow under the fan
platform and be detrimental to the performance of the fans located
downstream of its location. The magnitude of the upstream fan
performance increase was sufcient that the net effect on ACC heat
transfer rate under windy conditions was positive for all screen
congurations considered at El Dorado (relative to the case where
no screens are present). It made sense, however, that some wind
screen conguration must exist that provides the best overall
performance. This would be achieved by a screen conguration that
created a signicant enough stagnation effect under the ACC fan
platform to benet the upstream fans measurably without
providing too large an obstruction to the ow under the ACC and
effectively suffocating the downstream fans.
A screen conguration consisting of medium loss coefcient
screens, Ksc 10 in this case, installed to a height of Hsc/Hi 0.5
with the remaining space below the fan platform left open, was
identied as an improved wind screen conguration for El Dorado.
This conguration provided similar benets to the existing screen
conguration at the fans upstream of its location while having a less

M.T.F. Owen, D.G. Krger / Applied Thermal Engineering 30 (2010) 2610e2615

deleterious effect on the downstream fans. The improved downstream fan performance can be attributed to the open space
immediately below the fan platform as well as the use of medium
loss coefcient screen material.
This screen conguration is also attractive from an economic
point of view. It requires no structural modication to the ACC since
the current wind screen location at El Dorado was not altered. Also,
the new conguration requires less screen material than the
current conguration and so future replacements of the screens
will be cheaper. Furthermore, the new screen conguration is
easier to maintain and clean since it doesnt extend to the full fan
platform height.
Finally, moving the NeS wind screen one fan row in the
negative y-direction (or easterly direction) in Fig. 2 is found to be
benecial to ACC performance at El Dorado under the prevailing
wind conditions. The performance enhancement is caused by an
increase in the number of fans falling within the benecial stagnation region upstream of the screens for the prevailing southwesterly wind. The relocation of the NeS wind screen is therefore
recommended.
Careful consideration of the wind screen conguration and
location can lead to signicant mitigation of the negative effects of
wind on ACC performance. An investigation into the identication
of an optimum wind screen conguration and location is therefore
valuable for any ACC installation. Factors such as the prevailing
wind direction, surrounding topography, as well as the ACC
conguration and the nature of the fans must be taken into account
in such an investigation and each plant should be considered
individually.

2615

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the California Energy Commission
and the National Research Foundation for their nancial support.
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