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Validation

The Wet Cooling Tower unit operation has been validated through two complementary approaches:

Validation Type Description Result
Internal Validation 10 test cases covering Design/Rating modes, Poppe/Merkel methods, various L/G ratios 10/10 PASS
Literature Validation Comparison against Baker & Shryock (1961) and Stoecker & Jones (1982) published data 9/9 PASS
Validation workflow

Test Infrastructure

All tests are executed headlessly via the DWSIM Automation API (no GUI required):

  • Python with pythonnet for .NET interop
  • DWSIM.Automation.dll with Automation3 class
  • Base flowsheet: CoolingTower.dwxmz with CT-1, inlet stream "1", outlet stream "2"
  • Results exported to JSON and validated programmatically

Acceptance Criteria

Metric Tolerance Rationale
Geometric checks (range, approach) < 0.5% Arithmetic verification
KaV/L (Merkel, same method) < 5% Numerical integration differences
KaV/L (Poppe vs Merkel) < 15% Fundamental method difference
Energy balance (Q_water vs Q_air) < 5% Thermodynamic consistency
Heat rejected < 1% Direct calculation check
Literature NTU comparison < 5% Correlation/integration differences
Literature Tw,out comparison < 0.5 K Temperature prediction accuracy