Abstract: The basic principle simulating wind field and plume drift of large scale natural draft cooling tower with a CFD software STAR-CCM+ was introduced by using an inland nuclear power plant as a case study. How to import the nuclear power plant model established by CAD software SolidWorks2010 into STAR-CCM+ was introduced, and a whole process of grid-creating and boundary setting was illustrated. The simulation value of STAR-CCM+ and the observational value of wind tunnel experiment were compared, and both were consistent. The results indicate that there is a large cavity area behind the cooling tower at the height of 5 m above the ground. The wind speed of cavity area is only 1.0-1.5 m/s, and the wind is calm in part area. Side wind speed of cooling tower is 1.66 times of inlet wind speed. At the height of 100 m above the ground, the cavity area is still obvious, while the side wind speed of cooling tower becomes steady compared with inlet wind speed. The wind disturbance phenomenon in cooling tower sides strengthens along the dominant wind direction. The maximum plume rising height of a single cooling tower reaches 690 m at the distance of 3300 m downwind, while that of four cooling towers is 850 m and it is about 1.23 times of a single cooling tower.

Key words: CFD, STAR-CCM+ , Large Scale Natural, Draft Cooling Tower , Nuclear Power Plant , Wind Field Simulation, CFD, STAR-CCM+, Large scale natural draft cooling tower, Nuclear power plant, Wind field simulation