Author : Shaikh Mohamed Ashfaq

The existing of thermal power stations on rivers results in numerous environmental dilemma. Thermal contamination has come to mean the unfavorable effects of abnormal temperature changes in a natural body of water, caused by the release of industrial cooling water. The discharging of the cooling system of the thermal power stations into rivers may be surface discharge, submerged point discharge and submerged multi-port diffusers. In this research paper, the study is focused on the most common surface discharge method and isotherm map, centre line of temperature decay, and isotherm areas will be studied. Three dimensional (3D) model of the Cooling circuit thermal plume model by considering far field assessment and near field assessment for the thermal power plant cooling water system will be analyzed. In order to quantify the discharge-intake recirculation effect (the temperature increase at the intake point due to the effect of the discharge). The study will cover the stretch of the river indicated for the far field. It is understood that the level of accuracy of the model will be much more precise for the near field than for the far field by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) 3D model. In case of any discrepancy in the cooling performance of the cooling tower, CFD analysis is used to propose modification to improve the cooling performance.

Keywords: CFD; 3D; Plume; Centre line of temperature decay, Thermal pollution.

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.5, No.4 (Aug-2015)