Structural Retrofit Analysis of Converting a Conventional Wet Cooling Tower to a High-Level Water Collecting Cooling Tower

Conventional natural ventilation cooling towers are critical structures in coal-fired power plants. As the unit capacity of coal-fired power plants continues to increase, the circulating water volume rises, leading to a gradual increase in cooling tower capacity. Typically, a single cooling tower is designed with a footprint of 13000–16000 square meters. In recent years, the design technology for high-level water collecting cooling towers has matured domestically. Compared with conventional counter-flow natural ventilation cooling towers, high-level water collecting towers recover the energy of the condensate head and improve the efficiency of circulating water pumps. This is significant for controlling the auxiliary power consumption rate of power plants and offers certain economic benefits. Combining theoretical analysis with practical case studies, this paper outlines the layout characteristics and structural measures for converting conventional natural ventilation cooling towers into high-level water collecting towers, aiming to provide a reference for similar engineering applications.