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Effect of chimney height and collector roof angle on flow parameters of solar updraft tower (SUT) plant

A 3D numerical analysis

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Abstract

Solar updraft tower (SUT) is a viable option to produce electrical energy from solar energy. Extensive studies needed to estimate the flow parameters and analyse this set-up. A 3D numerical model is developed to analyse the flow parameters such as pressure, temperature and velocity of SUT plant. Effect of geometrical parameters such as chimney height and collector roof angle is studied numerically in this work. The diameter of absorber plate and chimney as 3.5 m and 0.6 m and the collector roof angle, chimney height and inlet gap as 30º, 6 m and 0.1 m, respectively, are selected for numerical simulation. A parametric study is performed for varying chimney heights from 3 to 8 m and collector roof angle 20º–35º with an increment of 5º each case. The airflow inside the SUT is turbulent, renormalization group (RNG) k-ε model is selected, and (discrete ordinates) DO model is incorporated for evaluation of radiation effect inside the domain. From the simulation results, it is concluded that when collector roof angle is increased, air velocity is increased and also air temperature is slightly dropped. It is found that there is 31% velocity enhancement when the chimney height is increased from 3 to 8 m.

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Abbreviations

a:

Absorption coefficient, m−1

Acr :

Collector roof angle, °

Ach :

Cross-sectional area of chimney, m2

Ch :

Height of chimney, m

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

Dap :

Diameter of absorber plate, m

Dc :

Chimney diameter, m

DO:

Discrete ordinates

FEM:

Finite element method

FVM:

Finite volume method

F G :

Hourly global radiation, Wm−2

g:

Gravity, ms−2

G b :

Turbulent kinetic energy due to buoyancy, m2s−2

G k :

Turbulent kinetic energy due to mean velocity, m2s−2

Gr:

Grashof number

h:

Convection heat transfer coefficient, Wm−2 K−1

I:

Solar intensity, Wm−2

I bλ :

Black body intensity, Wm−2

k :

Turbulent kinetic energy, m2s−2

L:

Characteristic length, m

m a :

Mass flow rate, Kgs−1

n :

Refractive index

Pr:

Prandtl number

Q:

Volumetric flow rate, m3s−1

Qa :

Heat flow rate, W

Δp:

Pressure difference between chimney base and surroundings, Pa

Ra:

Rayleigh number

RNG:

Renormalization group

RTE:

Radiative transfer equation

SUT:

Solar updraft tower

t:

Inlet gap, m

T:

Temperature, K

ΔT:

Temperature difference, K

v max :

Maximum air velocity, ms−1

α:

Thermal diffusivity, m2s−1

β:

Thermal expansion coefficient, °C−1

ε:

Rate of dissipation of turbulent energy, m2s−3

μt :

Turbulent viscosity, m2s−1

ϑ :

Kinematic viscosity, m2s−1

ϕ :

Phase function, sr−1

dΩ′:

Solid angle, steradian

ρ:

Density, kgm−3

η coll :

Efficiency of collector

γaa :

Lapse rate in ambient air temperature

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support provided by Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi-110 070, India, Grant No. File Number: EEQ/2016/000111.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, Telangana State, 506 004, India

    Pritam Das & V. P. Chandramohan

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  1. Pritam Das
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  2. V. P. Chandramohan
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Correspondence to V. P. Chandramohan.

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Das, P., Chandramohan, V.P. Effect of chimney height and collector roof angle on flow parameters of solar updraft tower (SUT) plant. J Therm Anal Calorim 136, 133–145 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7749-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7749-y

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