Structural Engineering Challenges in Structures for Cooling Water System in Thermal Power Plant

摘要

Water is one of the most important resource requirements in thermal power plant for process cooling in the condenser, ash disposal, cooling of plant auxiliaries and various other plant consumptive uses. Cooling water requirement in a thermal power plant is a major water resource issue for project feasibility as it has tremendous effect on the surrounding environment, population, animal and aquatic life. In a thermal power plant, Cooling Water system is one of the most important power plant systems which ensure continuous supply of cooling water for steam condensation in condenser and other plant equipment. Power plants are key elements of national infrastructure and eco-friendly solutions are required for commitment to the society. With a thrust on use of non-agricultural land as well as potential for importing coal through sea, the power plants are now being developed along the coastal lines, where water is available in abundance. The cooling process can be done either through air or with use of water and both have its merits and demerits. With increased power demand, the sizes of power plant units have increased substantially as compared with previous decades. This has further called for large structures and has imposed many engineering challenges for a power plant engineer. From civil and structural engineering perspective, the CW system involves very large water conveying and retaining structures namely cooling towers, intake and discharge channels, forebay, large underground sump, pump station for housing of large cooling water pumps, large piping between cooling tower and condenser, etc. In order to reduce the capital and running cost of the plant, thrust on economical design is emphasized. This imposes an additional constraint for engineer and it demands meticulous analysis and design to provide optimum techno-commercial solution. The present study describes various types of CW systems, structures and associated engineering challenges faced by structural engineer.