Computational Fluid Dynamics Modelling of the Temperature Distribution in Power Plant's Cooling Canal

Abstract

Seawater used as a heat exchanger in the coal-fired power plant condenser system has a higher water temperature than the natural temperature of seawater. There was an increase in the temperature of the waters around the coal-fired power plant due to the discharge of boiling water reaching 6.50C. According to the regulations in force in Indonesia, the hot water temperature at the water discharge outlet should not be more than 20C of the natural temperature of seawater. The purpose of this study is to predict the pattern of temperature decrease in the temperature of the boiling water along the cooling line. The method used to predict temperature drop patterns along the cooling line uses a 3-dimensional CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) modelling approach with the Ansys Fluent 2023 RI application. The K-Epsilon turbulence model was chosen to describe the effect of flow turbulence on temperature changes. The modelling results were validated by comparing the actual measurements of the water temperature field data representing along the cooling line. The results showed that the performance of reducing the temperature of the water increased when passing through the cascade aeration downstream of the channel. The flow of water along the channel tends to be on the lower side, and downstream, the flow is on the left–middle side. The error calculation using MAPE resulted in 9.49%.