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A typical cooling tower is shown in Figure 1 below:
Figure 1: Typical Cooling Tower
Below in Figure 2 is a schematic that shows how the cooling tower can be modeled in PIPE-FLO or Flow of Fluids.
Figure 2: Cooling Tower modeled in PIPE-FLO
The cooling tower itself should be modeled as a tank. The "Bottom elevation" of the tank should be set to the elevation of the bottom of the basin of the cooling tower. The "Pressure" of the tank should be set to 0.0 psig because the cooling tower is open to atmosphere. The "Liquid level" of the tank should be set to the basin depth (5' in the model shown above). Figure 3 below shows the "Tank" screen of the tank dialog box.
Figure 3: Tank dialog box
When you click on the "Configuration" tab of the tank dialog box, you must be sure to specify the penetration "Height" of the return sprayers (20' in the model shown above). Figure 4 below shows the "Configuration" screen of the tank dialog box.
Figure 4: Tank configuration
