To obtain the total and partial water flow rates of multiple parallel chillers, flow rate models are theoretically proposed based on the fundamentals of fluid dynamics using a real cooling plant with multiple parallel chillers as the prototype. These models reveal the inherent relationship among flow rate, pressure difference, and pipe resistance coefficients. After the model coefficients are determined theoretically and experimentally, both the total and partial flow rates of the multiple chillers are determined. The prototype system is subjected to two kinds of experiments, short-time and long-time experiments, to investigate the effect of resistance coefficients and pressure difference on the accuracy of the models. The two experiments show that the models are accurate in determining the flow rates of chilled water and cooling water in the prototype system. Some characteristics of the models are also discussed briefly. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.