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3D CFD simulation and experimental validation of the baffle number effect on the solar still performance

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Abstract

The present work investigates the effect of the baffle number on the solar still efficiency for four baffle numbers: 3, 7, 11, and 15. A three-dimensional numerical model is developed using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code "Ansys Fluent". An experimental study was conducted to measure the solar radiation intensity, the wind velocity, and the temperature of all solar still components. The CFD developed model is validated by comparing the simulated temperature profiles against measurement’s data. The highest temperature, reached on the absorber, is 87.56 °C at 1 p.m. The CFD simulation is performed using the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The solar radiation is captured using the discrete ordinates (DO), whereas turbulence is accounted for by the RNG k-ε model. Moreover, grid independent results are obtained using a 2.2 million cells. The obtained results show a heat transfer acceleration by raising the baffle number. In fact, using 3, 7, 11, and 15 baffles increases the water temperature by 26.37%, 29.38%, 34.06%, 37.36% and the freshwater productivity by 9.7%, 10.4%, 10.65%, and 10.925%, respectively, i.e., enhancing the efficiency of the solar still.

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Abbreviations

CFD:

Computational fluid dynamics

DO:

Discrete ordinates

SS:

Solar still

SSSS:

Single slope solar still

2D:

Two dimensional

3D:

Three dimensional

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical, Modeling, Energy and Materials Research Unit, M2EM, National Engineering School of Gabes ENIG, University of Gabes, Street Omar Ibn Elkhattab Zrig, Gabès, Tunisia

    Zouhayar Al Adel, Abdallah Bouabidi & Mouldi Chrigui

  2. Higher Institute of Technological Studies ISET Medenine, Campus of ElFjaa, Medenine, Tunisia

    Zouhayar Al Adel

  3. Higher Institute of Industrial Systems of Gabes, Road of Slaheddine El Ayoubi, Gabès, Tunisia

    Abdallah Bouabidi

  4. Institute for Energy and Power-Plant Technology, Darmstadt University of Technology, Otto-Berndt-Str. 3, 64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    Mouldi Chrigui

Authors
  1. Zouhayar Al Adel
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  2. Abdallah Bouabidi
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  3. Mouldi Chrigui
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Correspondence to Zouhayar Al Adel.

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Al Adel, Z., Bouabidi, A. & Chrigui, M. 3D CFD simulation and experimental validation of the baffle number effect on the solar still performance. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 2171–2188 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-022-11856-w

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