Numerical Study on the Thermal Interaction of Gas-Particle Transport for a Vortex Flow Solar Reactor

Solar reactors, by nature of their high temperature, are nearly experimentally inaccessible. Most instruments capable of measuring fluid flow cannot survive the harsh temperatures inside the reactor. As such, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been relied on to provide insight into the flow within the reactor. Because of the size of the computing resources necessary to properly account for all of the physical mechanisms within the solar reactor, the current state of numerical simulations only provide a limited level of insight. The present study provides an analysis of flow behavior and thermal interaction of gas-particle flow for a directly irradiated vortex flow solar reactor. The thermal hydraulics between gas flow and particle has been considered by two way coupled Euler-Lagrange approach. A two band discrete ordinate (DO) model has been considered to solve radiative transport between walls and entrained particles. The effect of main flow, secondary flow, particle loading, particle diameter and residence time are studied to analyze flow physics and heat transfer. Results are presented in terms of static temperature contours, temperature distribution along the center line of the cavity, path lines and particle temperature. It is observed that with the increase in main flow, secondary flow and particle diameter average outlet temperature of the fluid increases, and with the increase in particle loading the outlet temperature decreases. The particle exit temperature is observed to increase with the increase in residence time.© 2010 ASME