Calculation of heat losses from NIT Rourkela’s swimming pool and a study on evaporative losses using MATLAB

Abstract

The objective of this project is to calculate heat losses from NIT Rourkela’s swimming pool and to conduct a study on evaporative losses using MATLAB. A swimming pool is an open system from which continuous heat and mass transfer occurs to and from its environment. One of the major losses of heat from a swimming pool happens because of evaporation. In this project, temperatures of the concerned swimming pool water and the ambient air were recorded for a period of 26 days starting from 2 Nov 2010 to 27 Nov 2010. On each day readings were taken 6 times on a regular basis. Then, relative humidity data for Rourkela, India was collected for 5 days from 23 Nov 2010 to 27 Nov 2010. So, along with vapour pressure data of water, the different heat losses, namely, convective, evaporative and radiation heat losses were calculated for the 5 days. Also, graphs were plotted between evaporative losses per unit area of the swimming pool vs Time and total heat losses per unit area vs time. The results thus obtained are discussed. Then, a study was conducted using MATLAB to see the variation of evaporative losses with relative humidity and ambient air temperature. It was found that for a given relative humidity, evaporative loss increases with increase in ambient air temperature.