Dudley J Benton

McHale Performance · testing, analyzing, & fixing power plants

The Kudryashov and Sinelshchikov (KS) equation address pressure waves in liquid-gas bubble mixtures while considering heat transport and viscosity. This study mainly includes two types of generalized solutions: polynomial function traveling wave solutions and rational function traveling wave solutions. In this study, we constructed the KS equation'...

Three large-scale (100 meters) and seven small-scale (3-7 meters) multi-well aquifer tests were conducted in a heterogeneous aquifer to determine the transmissivity distribution across a one-hectare test site. Two of the large-scale tests had constant but different rates of discharge; the remaining large-scale test had a constant discharge that was...

Accurate modeling of contaminant transport is essential to effective containment design. Anything less may lead to failure, the consequences of which depend on the virulence and quantity of the contaminant. The mathematical model presented herein arose from such a failure. In spite of careful implementation, the impounded substance breached the bar...

Several people have asked for a copy of FACTS, my cooling tower analysis program. This archive also contains several input files and a list of fill coefficients. Sorry that it’s a 32-bit console application. You’ll have to open a command prompt (or create a batch file) to run it.

With an overwhelming push for “green” renewable energy in the recent years, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Performance Test Codes (PTCs) are being called upon to develop standards for testing solar power facilities. To meet the challenge, ASME formed a committee to develop PTC 52, Performance Test Code on Concentrated Solar Pla...

Sensitive paper has long been used to detect droplet impingement in several processes including drieft measurement. Identifying, counting, and measure the individual droplets has been a tedious, labor-intensive task involving microscopic examination and statistical extrapolation, seeing as counting all the droplets has previously been impractical....

The Pitot tube has been the mainstay of flow measurement in cooling towers for decades, but this isn't the only application for velocity probes of this type. Unlike the cooling tower flow, most other applications of these and similar probes consider the Reynolds number-typically at the head of the probe. The correction for Reynolds number in the de...

The development of a computer model for a two-dimensional round or slot jet plume is presented. The plume can be positively, negatively, or neutrally buoyant with respect to the ambient, and composed of heated or cooled fresh or salty water. The ambient can be stratified or uniform in temperature, flowing, stagnant, fresh or salty. Samples of compu...

An integral approach is proposed as a method of simplifying the analysis of a thermal plume in a stratified ambient. The thermal discharge from a power plant into a river is the application for this analysis.

This paper describes the mult-port diffuser, plant heat rejection, and thermal discharge model for a three-unit nuclear plant. This paper was prepared for the USTVA.

A model is developed for the transport of PCBs in a sorbing and retarding finite porous medium. The model is transient and one-dimensional. Both diffusion and simple advection are modeled. The model utilizes statistical measures of grain size in the medium. This paper was prepared for the USEPA.

An improved cooling tower simulation algorithm was developed for the CoolTools™ simulation model to support the optimal design of chilled water systems. The new algorithm was developed to predict more quickly and more accurately the thermal performance and energy consumption of a cooling tower. An array of previously known analytical and empirical...

A model is developed for the transport of PCBs in a sorbing and retarding finite porous medium. The model is transient and one-dimensional. Both diffusion and simple advection are modeled. The model utilizes statistical measures of grain size in the medium.

Development and utilization of a numerical model of the nitrogen supersaturation process is an important component of the Jennings Randolph Project. A literature review was conducted and the model developed by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Waterways Experiment Station (WES) was found to be the most promising. This model was developed by...

This paper addresses an investigation of flue gas injection on natural draft cooling tower performance through numerical simulation. The control volume finite difference method was used for discretizing the governing equations in axisymmetric form on a boundary-fitted grid. The five independent variables addressed in this study are flue gas flow ra...

P-Squared Technologies specializes in environmental fluid flow modeling,especially groundwater and surface water systems. These applications are often large models which require large programs. The 640KB memory limitation of standard DOS is far too small for modeling complex environmental phenomena. Utilizing more than 64MB of physical memory or mo...

Particle tracking has been successfully used to model diverse phenomena. Although the present application is for the transport of contaminants within a groundwater system, the same algorithm could be used for a variety of applications. In addition to deterministic particle tracking, in order to simulate variability in the transport media, a random...

Natural draft water cooling tower heat transfer efficiency is improved by an inlet air flow baffle to divide the inlet cooling air between a first volumetric flow portion channeled directly to the axial core of the tower draft channel under a shielded protection from a water droplet dispersion of descending process water and a second volumetric flo...

Although the thermal performances of natural draft cooling towers occasionally fail to meet expectations, the options available to the designer to improve the performance of these cooling towers are limited. This paper presents the technical basis for a new Oriented Spray-assisted Cooling Tower design developed by the authors while employed by the...

Particle tracking has been successfully used to model diverse phenomena. This method is particularly useful for modeling contaminant transport within a groundwater system. Not only can this method provide concentration maps, reversing the flow field and back-tracking can be used to identify the probabilities associated with multiple sources. An inn...

In order to efficiently simulate solute transport and particle tracking in complex stratigraphy, Environmental Consulting Engineers, Inc. (ECE) developed the particle-tracking code PTRAX. Particle tracking is a powerful and versatile tool that offers several advantages ova- finite-difference and finite-element modeling for solute transport. These a...

The performance of cooling towers is of great importance for the large number of nuclear plants that must rely upon cooling towers as their only means of waste heat rejection. Yet the performance of cooling towers have been problematic. Analytical tools to evaluate their performance have been developed and validated by test by the Electric Power Re...

EZFLOW was developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for hydraulic analyses of raw water and condensate piping networks in nuclear power plants. It satisfies nuclear quality assurance criteria and incorporates TVA's established hydraulic design standards into its menu-based user interface. It has several input, solution, and output capabili...

As a follow-up to previous analysis of counterflow film and crossflow splash fill, the Lewis number is determined from experimental data for counterflow splash and crossflow film fill. The relative influence of fill type (film/splash) and flow orientation (counter/crossflow) on the Lewis number is examined in light of this more complete data set.

The overall objective of this project was to gain an improved understanding of the interactions between hydrometeorology, reservoir operations, and power generation. Specific objectives were to (1) identify the sensitivity of the TV A reservoir and power supply systems to extreme meteorology and climatic variation, and to (2) develop improved tools...

A multi-unit electric power plant cooling system model is used to compute the response of a fossil plant to a changing environment. This model can be used to compute the response to both historical (past) and hypothetical (future) conditions. In addition to a changing environment, the thermal discharge constraints imposed by the environmental prote...

Power systems often depend upon reservoir operations to generate hydropower, as well as to support thermal (nuclear and fossil) power generation. Thermal power plants frequently utilize reservoirs/rivers to provide condenser cooling water, dissipate thermal waste discharges, and/or supply safety intake water for emergency cooling systems at nuclear...

The impact of atmospheric lapse rate on the performance of large natural draft cooling towers is quantified experimentally and analytically. Results of simulations are presented for the impact of atmospheric lapse through cooling tower performance on generation for a specific power plant.

To evaluate the sensitivity of the TVA reservoir and power supply systems to extreme meteorology, a series of models were used to quantify the relationship between changes in air temperature, water temperature, and thermal power plant performance. Within the •Tennessee River system, for each 1 deg F increase in air temperature, water temperatures a...

The sensitivity of the TVA reservoir and power supply systems to extreme meteorology was evaluated using a series of mathematical models to simulate the relationship between incremental changes in meteorology, associated changes in water temperature, and power plant generation. Within the Tennessee River System, for each 1 deg F increase in air tem...

An analysis was performed to quantify the impact of design parameters, expected cooling tower performance; and meteorology on the capacity of Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, (BLN). This analysis included a parametric study to quantify the impact of the cooling tower performance and condenser cleanliness. The impact of thermal inversions on cooling tower...

An as-designed analysis has been performed to quantify the impact of design parameters, expected cooling tower performance, and meteorology on the capacity of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN). These analyses include modeling the performance of the towers as expected in their current condition as well as several alternatives for increasing their perfor...

Merkel theory relied on several basic assumptions to simplify the mathematical calculations involved in the determination of KaV/L (cooling tower demand). Sixty-five years later, computers and numerical methods allow for more precise determinations. A description of both Merkel theory and the development of a more nearly exact representation are pr...

Hermite polynomials are orthogonal over the infinite domain and can be used as basis functions to represent the concentration of contaminants in groundwater. These can then be used to test the accuracy of numerical integration techniques, as the closed-form solution is known. This same process could be applied to infinite domains in other areas of...

In order to quantify the mass of a contaminant plume it is necessary to integrate the concentration over the volume. As the concentration is only known at discrete points, this requires three-dimensional approximation. Orthogonal functions is one way to accomplish this. Hermite polynomials and their weighting function inherently diminish with incre...

A method is presented by which chemical reactions can be conveniently expressed and automatically decomposed into the implied thermochemical equations. A variation of the RAND method with enhancements to the numerical algorithm that improve computational stability and convergence rate is used to solve these equations. A generalized equation of stat...

Applications of a hybrid derivative-free algorithm for locating extrema of nonlinear functions of several variables based on Broyden's method is presented in which the problems of starting values and extraneous entrapment are addressed. The principal intended application of the algorithm is to find solutions to simultaneous nonlinear equations. The...

Three large-scale (100 m) and seven small-scale (3-7 m) multi-well aquifer tests were conducted in a heterogeneous aquifer to determine the transmissivity distribution across a one-hectare test site. Two of the large-scale tests had constant but different rates of discharge; the remaining large-scale test had a discharge that was pulsed at regulate...

The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the performance calculations associated with large electric power plants. TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is selected as an example for the purposes of illustration.

Some of the difficulties and anomalies encountered when computing separate heat and mass transfer coefficients from wet cooling tower fill test data are presented. The Lewis analogy, which has historically been used to relate the sensible and evaporative transfers, is examined in light of this data.

A thorough understanding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is essential for the engineer working with energy systems. How the Second Law is presented to engineering students can have a profound effect on their perception of and dependence on this fundamental principle. An alternative is described to the usual way of presenting the microscopic Sec...

The Cooling Tower Performance Prediction and Improvement (EPPI) Report: Volumes 1 and 2 provides utility engineers with the data and computational methods needed to evaluate and predict the thermal performance of evaporative cooling towers. It will also assist in the design and writing of specifications for cooling towers, evaluating bids submitted...

A steady-state steam cycle model is presented as a practical example of an innovative approach to large nonlinear systems analysis on a microcomputer. Rather than scaling down an existing mainframe code to fit on a PC and being forced to choose between limited versatility or impractical runtimes, the approach described here is to develop the method...

Extensive borehole flowmeter tests were performed at 37 fully screened wells on 1 ha of an alluvial terrace aquifer to characterize the three-dimensional hydraulic conductivity field. At each well location, approximately 24 hydraulic conductivity measurements were taken at 0.3 m vertical intervals. These hydraulic conductivity measurements indicate...

The development of a computer model for a two-dimensional round or slot jet plume is presented. The plume can be positively, negatively, or neutrally buoyant with respect to the ambient, and composed of heated or cooled fresh or salty water. The ambient can be stratified or uniform in temperature, flowing, stagnant, fresh or salty. Samples of compu...

A comparison is made of seventy-five cases representing seven major methods used for numerical integration as to their respective accuracy, speed, cost effectiveness, and stability. Gauss Quadrature is shown to be by far the preferable method for computing cooling tower demand curves.

A comparison is made of seventy-five cases representing seven major methods used for numerical integration as to their respective accuracy, speed, cost-effectiveness, and stability. Gauss quadrature is shown to be by far the preferable method for computing cooling tower demand curves.

The development of computer model for a two-dimensional round or slot jet plume is presented. The plume can be positively, negatively, or neutrally buoyant with respect to the ambient, and composed of heated or cooled fresh or salty water. The ambient can be stratified or uniform in temperature, flowing, stagnant, fresh or salty. Samples of compute...

1. The Essentials of Innovation; 2. Avoiding Obsolescence; 3. What's It Like in the Real World of Computers in Engineering; 4. Where Is It All Going; 5. How You Can Prepare; 6. What You Need To Know. - an interesting forecast 26 years later.

A computer model of the simultaneous heat, mass, and momentum transfer processes occurring throughout an entire cooling tower is described in this paper. The model includes the flexibility to analyze the several configurations, fill arrangements, and flow distributions commonly used by the power industry. The model has been successfully compared wi...

A theoretical analysis of mass transfer and pressure drop for a spray is presented and compared to experimental data. The spray consists of 1-mm to 5-mm diameter water droplets falling in air that is flowing at an angle of between 90 and 180 degrees relative to gravity. The analysis is particularly applicable to the rain zone of natural draft count...

A computer model was developed to simulate the operation of evaporative cooling towers. Special consideration was given in the development of this computer model co simulate hybrid fills for evaluating alternatives to improving the cooling capacity of existing towers. Results from this computer simulation are presented which predict the effect on o...

The relationships governing fields, stress and strain, hydrodynamics, and thermodynamics are frequently expressed as integral or differential equations. Since the introduction of digital computers many methods have been developed for translating these expressions of integral and differential calculus into algebraic expressions, which may be solved...

A phenomenological analysis was developed for the processes which occur within an evaporative cooling tower. The analysis includes the basic principles of mass, momentum, and energy conservation and empirical elationships for component characteristics such as transfer and pressure drop coefficients. A computer model which simulates the processes oc...

This report supplements previous Section 316(a) submittals to constitute a complete evaluation of the thermal effects of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (BFNP). It supports the adoption of alternative thermal limitations of 90°F maximum temperature (T ) and l0°F max maximum temperature rise (AT ) without any restrictions on TVA'!': max operation of...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of surface macro-roughness elements on the film boiling of discrete stationary liquid drops. The possible enhancement of boiling heat transfer rates due to the presence of these roughness elements as well as the conditions under which such enhancement might be expected was also to be determined....

The possible improvement of film boiling heat transfer through the use of surface macro-roughness elements is the subject of the present study. A macro-roughened heating surface was fabricated with a flush-mounted micro-thermocouple in the protruding end of one of the macro-roughness elements. The temperature measurements obtained from this micro-t...

The object of this paper is to develop a surface renewal model of the turbulent burst phenomenon for momentum and energy transfer in the wall region for turbulent boundary layer flows with pressure gradient. In addition to obtaining inner laws for the distributions in velocity and temperature, predictions are obtained for the effect of pressure gra...

This report has been prepared to satisfy part III.J of NPDES permit No. AL0024635 for the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant (BLN) located on Guntersville Reservoir, Alabama, Tennessee River Mile (TRM) 391.5. Part III .J stipulates the permittee shall "conduct a study to predict effects of river temperatures in excess of the current 86°F standard on the aqua...

Film boiling is usually defined as the mode of boiling that occurs when an essentially continuous layer of vapor separates the heating surface from the boiling liquid (Bromley, 1959). Because the thermal conductivity of a vapor is typically much less than the thermal conductivity of the liquid phase, the presence of a vapor layer between the heatin...

A computer simulation study was•performed to determine the frequency and magnitude of load reductions which would be required at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in order to meet Alabama thermal water quality standards if proposed modifications to the plant are made. These modifications would relieve the plant from the currently imposed cooling tower eff...

Considerations in the design of shell and tube heat exchangers specifically intended for use in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) systems are presented. Factors such as selection of working fluids variations in thermodynamic and transport properties, seawater velocities, excess temperature differentials, and approach temperature of the evapora...

A theoretical study was conducted to determine the relationships between the major controlling factors in the heat exchangers in an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion system. A digital computer model was developed to simulate and analyze the system. Variations in the thermophysical properties of the seawater and working fluid were considered in the an...