Field test on ventilation performance for high level water collecting wet cooling tower under crosswind conditions

•Field test was conducted on high-level cooling tower under crosswind conditions.•Inflow air uniformity coefficient decreases with the rising of crosswind velocity.•The uniformity coefficient decreases to 0.61 and 0.49 under θ1 = 5° and θ2 = 35°.•In 3.74 m/s, the ventilation rate reduces by 30.13% under 5° condition.•The ventilation performance is better under 5° condition. Field test was performed on the high level water collecting wet cooling towers (HWCTs) of a 1000 MW unit to investigate ventilation performance under crosswind conditions, the circumferential inflow air distribution rules and ventilation rate were analyzed in this paper. The test results manifest that crosswind destroys the uniformity of circumferential inflow air, increases the wind velocity in the windward side, and reduces wind velocity in the lateral and leeward side. Moreover, the uniformity coefficient of circumferential inflow air and ventilation rate continuously decrease with the increasing of crosswind velocity. In this study, θ represents the angle between cross walls and crosswind direction. When crosswind velocity reaches to 3.74 m/s, the uniformity coefficient decreases to 0.61 and 0.49 under θ1 = 5° and θ2 = 35°. Compared with 0.28 m/s condition, the ventilation rate reduces by 30.13% under θ1 = 5° and 34.36% under θ2 = 35°. Additionally, at the same crosswind velocity, the smaller the θ is, the better the ventilation performance becomes. Compared with θ2 = 35°, the uniformity of circumferential inlet air is better and the ventilation rate is larger than that under θ1 = 5° condition.