Wet cooling towers are important components in many industrial and power plant systems. Packings are the main part of heat and mass transfer in these equipment’s, and optimizing their performance has always been of interest to researchers. In this study, the effect of nanofluid flow rate on the thermal performance of two different types of packing, including film and splash packing, in a wet cooling tower was experimentally investigated. For this purpose, a laboratory model of a cooling tower with the ability to replace the packing and accurately control the operating conditions was designed and built. The working fluid in this study was a water-based nanofluid containing iron oxide nanoparticles, which was used at different flow rates due to its favorable thermal properties. The results obtained showed that by reducing the nanofluid flow rate, the thermal performance of the tower increased in both types of packing, but the performance of splash packing was better than that of film packing. The cooling range, efficiency and performance characteristics of splash packing were 14.7%, 9.9% and 32% more optimal than the film type, respectively. The improvement in splash packing performance is mainly attributed to the increase in the fluid-air contact area and the creation of more turbulence in the flow. This research shows that the appropriate choice of packing type can lead to an increase in the thermal efficiency of wet cooling towers and play an effective role in their optimal design.
[1] H. Goshayshi and J. Missenden, "The investigation of cooling tower packing in various arrangements," Appl. Therm. Eng., vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 69–80, 2000, doi: 10.1016/S1359-4311(99)00011-3.
[2] Y. Xi, Z. Yu, L. Zhang, A. Yu, L. Liu, B. Bao, et al., "Research on heat and mass transfer characteristics of a counterflow wet cooling tower using a new type of straight wave packing," Int. J. Therm. Sci., vol. 193, p. 108540, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2023.108540.
[3] American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, 1996 ASHRAE Handbook: HVAC Systems and Equipment. Atlanta, GA: ASHRAE, 1996.
[4] S. A. Ahmed, S. B. A. Kareem, and H. F. Makki, "Investigation hydraulic performance of splash fills packing in cooling tower," in AIP Conf. Proc., AIP Publishing, 2020, doi: 10.1063/5.0000275.
[5] T. Ning, D. Chong, M. Jia, J. Wang, and J. Yan, "Experimental investigation on the performance of wet cooling towers with defects in power plants," Appl. Therm. Eng., vol. 78, pp. 228–235, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.12.032.
[6] Q. J. Kong, X. Y. Zhao, D. Q. Xie, B. Zhang, and P. Wang, "Experimental investigation of the heat and mass transfer phenomena in a counterflow wet cooling tower with foam ceramic packing," Adv. Mech. Eng., vol. 10, no. 1, p. 1687814017752579, 2018, doi: 10.1177/1687814017752579.
[7] Q. Kong, D. Liu, P. Wang, D. Xie, Q. Wu, and X. Zhao, "Experimental study on the heat and mass transfer characteristics of a counterflow wet cooling tower with foam ceramic packing," Thermophys. Aeromech., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 267–279, 2019, doi:/10.1134/S0869864319020100.
[8] Z. Zhao, J. Gao, X. Zhu, and Q. Qiu, "Experimental study of the corrugated structure of film packing on thermal and resistance characteristics of cross-flow cooling tower," Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf., vol. 141, p. 106610, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2022.106610.
[9] M. Rahmati, S. R. Alavi, and M. R. Tavakoli, "Experimental investigation on performance enhancement of forced draft wet cooling towers with special emphasis on the role of stage numbers," Energy Convers. Manag., vol. 126, pp. 971–981, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.08.059(in Persian).
[10] M. Rahmati, "Effects of ZnO/water nanofluid on the thermal performance of wet cooling towers," Int. J. Refrig., vol. 131, pp. 526–534, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2021.03.017(in Persian).
[11] P. Shahali, M. Rahmati, S. R. Alavi, and A. Sedaghat, "Experimental study on improving operating conditions of wet cooling towers using various rib numbers of packing," Int. J. Refrig., vol. 65, pp. 80–91, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2015.12.004(in Persian).
[12] E. S. Mohammed, Q. K. Jasim, and M. W. Kanbar, "Experimental study on promoting the thermal performance of a forced draft counter flow evaporative cooling tower," Adv. Nat. Appl. Sci., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 36–48, 2017.
[13] P. Imani-Mofrad, Z. H. Saeed, and M. Shanbedi, "Experimental investigation of filled bed effect on the thermal performance of a wet cooling tower by using ZnO/water nanofluid," Energy Convers. Manag., vol. 127, pp. 199–207, 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2016.09.009(in Persian).
[14] R. Javadpour, S. Z. Heris, and J. P. Meyer, "Experimental study of the effect of filled bed type on the performance of a cross-flow cooling tower with the approach of using water-based nanofluids (MWCNTs and TiO2)," Energy Rep., vol. 8, art. no. 834660, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.egyr.2022.06.027(in Persian).
[15] Z. Hashemi, A. Zamanifard, M. Gholampour, J. S. Liaw, and C. C. Wang, "Recent progress in fill media technology for wet cooling towers," Processes, vol. 11, no. 9, p. 2578, 2023, doi: 10.3390/pr11092578
[16] L. Yang, L. Zhang, J. Hu, Y. Li, J. Fang, Z. Yu, et al., "Experiment and numerical study on thermal performance of counterflow wet cooling tower filled with double S-wave packing," Int. J. Therm. Sci., vol. 200, p. 108984, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2024.108984.
[17] B. Rahmatinejad and F. Azimpour, "Increasing the stability of nanofluids and its estimation methods," Sci. Technol. Mech. Eng., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 7–19, 2023, doi: 10.22034/stme.2023.162633(in Persian).
[18] H. N. S. Yassien, A. S. Abedalh, O. M. Yousif, and A. T. Hussein, "Impact of CuO+H2O nanofluid on the cooling towers performance with varying packing densities," Results Eng., vol. 26, p. 104664, 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.rineng.2025.104664.
[19] S. S. Salins, S. Kumar, K. Reddy, S. Shetty, and A. Tejero-González, "Experimental investigation in a forced draft wet cooling tower using aluminum oxide nanoparticles," Chem. Eng. Res. Des., vol. 212, pp. 281–292, 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.cherd.2024.11.010.
[20] P. K. Mondal, S. Mukherjee, B. Kundu, and S. Wongwises, "Investigation of the crosswind-influenced thermal performance of a natural draft counterflow cooling tower," Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., vol. 85, pp. 1049–1057, 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.02.048.
[21] F. Ahmed and W. A. Khan, "Efficiency enhancement of an air-conditioner utilizing nanofluids: An experimental study," Energy Rep., vol. 7, pp. 575–583, 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.egyr.2021.01.023.
[22] P. Navarro, J. Ruiz, M. Hernández, A. S. Kaiser, and M. Lucas, "Critical evaluation of the thermal performance analysis of a new cooling tower prototype," Appl. Therm. Eng., vol. 213, p. 118719, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.118719.
[23] Z. Imani and H. B. Nejad, "The importance of uncertainty propagation in studies and investigation of the methods to estimate it," Mech. Eng. J., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 66–71, 2024, doi: doi: 10.30506/mmep.2024.2018130.2157(in Persian).
Nakhaee Sharif,M , Goshayeshi,H R and Saleh,R . (2025). Investigation of the Effect of Packing Type on Thermal Performance of a Wet Cooling Tower Using Nanofluid Flow. Science and Technology in Mechanical Engineering, 4(1), 203-216. doi: 10.22034/stme.2025.523322.1130
MLA
Nakhaee Sharif,M , , Goshayeshi,H R , and Saleh,R . "Investigation of the Effect of Packing Type on Thermal Performance of a Wet Cooling Tower Using Nanofluid Flow", Science and Technology in Mechanical Engineering, 4, 1, 2025, 203-216. doi: 10.22034/stme.2025.523322.1130
HARVARD
Nakhaee Sharif M, Goshayeshi H R, Saleh R. (2025). 'Investigation of the Effect of Packing Type on Thermal Performance of a Wet Cooling Tower Using Nanofluid Flow', Science and Technology in Mechanical Engineering, 4(1), pp. 203-216. doi: 10.22034/stme.2025.523322.1130
CHICAGO
M Nakhaee Sharif, H R Goshayeshi and R Saleh, "Investigation of the Effect of Packing Type on Thermal Performance of a Wet Cooling Tower Using Nanofluid Flow," Science and Technology in Mechanical Engineering, 4 1 (2025): 203-216, doi: 10.22034/stme.2025.523322.1130
VANCOUVER
Nakhaee Sharif M, Goshayeshi H R, Saleh R. Investigation of the Effect of Packing Type on Thermal Performance of a Wet Cooling Tower Using Nanofluid Flow. STME. 2025;4(1):203-216 (In Persian). doi: 10.22034/stme.2025.523322.1130
Science and Technology in Mechanical Engineering