COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS INVESTIGATION OF PERFORMANCE OF VOLUMETRIC RECEIVERS IN SOLAR TOWER POWER PLANTS

Abstract

In the current study, a computational fluid dynamics model was developed using volume averaged Navier-Stokes equations and porous thermal equilibrium model to investigate the performance of the solar volumetric receiver against the change of a set of parameters such as: main air inlet velocity, return air temperature, return air velocity and return air inlet orientation. The model was validated against previous experimental results with maximum outlet temperature deviation of 7.3%. A new geometry influenced by the HiTRec receiver design was proposed in order to take into account the effect of return air on receiver’s performance, also to modify the outlet zone of the receiver in order to minimize flow separation and reversed flow.