Theoretical and experimental study of natural convection with surface thermal radiation in a side open cavity

Abstract In this work a theoretical and experimental study of heat transfer by natural convection and thermal radiation on a solar open cubic cavity-type receiver is presented. The theoretical study consists on solving the laminar natural convection and the surface thermal radiation on a square open cavity at one end. The overall continuity, momentum, and energy equations in primitive variables are solved numerically by using the finite-volume method and the SIMPLEC algorithm. The thermophysical properties of the fluid are considered, for the first case, as temperature dependent in all the governing equations, and for the second case, constant, except for the density at the buoyancy term (Boussinesq approximation), with the purpose of comparing the results of both theoretical models with experimentally obtained results. Numerical calculations are conducted for Rayleigh number ( Ra ) values in the range of 10 4 –10 6 . The temperature difference between the hot wall and the bulk fluid (Δ T ) is varied between 10 and 400 K, and is represented as a dimensionless temperature difference ( φ ) for the purpose of generalization of the trends observed. Experimental results include air temperature measurements inside the receiver. These results are compared with theoretically obtained air temperatures, and the average deviation between both results is around 3.0%, when using the model with variable thermophysical properties, and is around 5.4% when using the Boussinesq approximation.

[1]  Khalil Khanafer,et al.  Mixed convection heat transfer in two-dimensional open-ended enclosures , 2002 .

[2]  Claudio A. Estrada,et al.  Numerical Study of Transient and Steady-State Natural Convection and Surface Thermal Radiation in a Horizontal Square Open Cavity , 2005 .

[3]  Rachid Bennacer,et al.  Lattice Boltzmann simulation of natural convection in an open ended cavity , 2009 .

[4]  Frans T. M. Nieuwstadt,et al.  Numerical study of transient and steady laminar buoyancy-driven flows and heat transfer in a square open cavity , 1992 .

[5]  Patrick Le Quere,et al.  NUMERICAL CALCULATION OF THERMALLY DRIVEN TWO-DIMENSIONAL UNSTEADY LAMINAR FLOW IN CAVITIES OF RECTANGULAR CROSS SECTION , 1981 .

[6]  C. Balaji,et al.  Combined conduction, convection and radiation in a slot , 1995 .

[7]  Abdulmajeed A. Mohamad,et al.  NATURAL CONVECTION IN OPEN CAVITIES AND SLOTS , 1995 .

[8]  A. M. Clausing,et al.  Convective losses from cavity solar receivers--Comparisons between analytical predictions and experimental results , 1983 .

[9]  Rosenberg J. Romero,et al.  Experimental thermodynamic evaluation for a single stage heat transformer prototype build with commercial PHEs , 2015 .

[10]  M. Gonzalez,et al.  Numerical study of the Boussinesq approach validity for natural convection and surface thermal radiation in an open cavity , 2013 .

[11]  G. E. Schneider,et al.  A three-dimensional modified strongly implicit procedure for heat conduction , 1983 .

[12]  F. Penot,et al.  NUMERICAL CALCULATION OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL NATURAL CONVECTION IN ISOTHERMAL OPEN CAVITIES , 1982 .

[13]  Adrian Bejan,et al.  Natural Convection With Radiation in a Cavity With Open Top End , 1992 .

[14]  Robert F. Boehm.  A Review of Convective Loss Data From Solar Central Receivers , 1987 .

[15]  O. Manca,et al.  Numerical Investigation on the Steady State Natural Convection in a Horizontal Open-Ended Cavity with a Heated Upper Wall , 2010 .

[16]  C. L. Tien,et al.  A numerical study of two-dimensional laminar natural convection in shallow open cavities , 1985 .

[17]  Wai Ming To,et al.  Numerical simulation of buoyant, turbulent flow—II. Free and mixed convection in a heated cavity , 1986 .

[18]  J. G. M. Eggels,et al.  Numerical simulation of transient natural convection from an isothermal cavity open on a side , 1995 .

[19]  E. Bilgen,et al.  Conjugate heat transfer in inclined open shallow cavities , 2003 .

[20]  C. Tien,et al.  a Numerical Study of Two-Dimensional Natural Convection in Square Open Cavities , 1985 .

[21]  Shireesh B. Kedare,et al.  Numerical study of natural convection loss from open cavities , 2012 .

[22]  U. Leibfried,et al.  Convective Heat Loss from Upward and Downward-Facing Cavity Solar Receivers: Measurements and Calculations , 1995 .

[23]  Y. Jaluria,et al.  Penetrative convection in a stably stratified enclosure , 1995 .

[24]  Hakan F. Oztop,et al.  Natural convection heat transfer in partially open inclined square cavities , 2005 .

[25]  K. Vafai,et al.  Thermal and fluid flow instabilities in buoyancy-driven flows in open-ended cavities , 1990 .

[26]  Claudio A. Estrada,et al.  Three-dimensional numerical simulation of the natural convection in an open tilted cubic cavity , 2006 .

[27]  S. Patankar.  Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow , 2018, Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering.

[28]  Weeratunge Malalasekera,et al.  An introduction to computational fluid dynamics - the finite volume method , 2007 .

[29]  E. Bilgen,et al.  Laminar natural convection in inclined open shallow cavities , 2002 .

[30]  E. Sparrow,et al.  Buoyancy-induced flow in an open-ended cavity: Assessment of a similarity solution and of numerical simulation models , 2009 .

[31]  Masud Behnia,et al.  Combined natural convection-conduction and radiation heat transfer in a discretely heated open cavity , 1996 .

[32]  Claudio A. Estrada,et al.  Numerical study of heat transfer by natural convection and surface thermal radiation in an open cavity receiver , 2012 .

[33]  Sawat Paitoonsurikarn,et al.  Experimental Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Loss From a Model Solar Concentrator Cavity Receiver , 2004 .

[34]  S. P. Venkateshan,et al.  Numerical study of natural convection with surface radiation in side-vented open cavities , 2004 .

[35]  Richard J Goldstein,et al.  TWO-DIMENSIONAL LAMINAR NATURAL CONVECTION HEAT TRANSFER FROM A FULLY OR PARTIALLY OPEN SQUARE CAVITY , 1989 .

[36]  Kambiz Vafai,et al.  The effects of sharp corners on buoyancy-driven flows with particular emphasis on outer boundaries , 1990 .

[37]  S. Asghar,et al.  Buoyancy‐driven flow of a viscous incompressible fluid in an open‐ended rectangular cavity with permeable horizontal surfaces , 2010 .

[38]  Ahmet Koca.  Numerical analysis of conjugate heat transfer in a partially open square cavity with a vertical heat source , 2008 .

[39]  Kwang-Tzu Yang,et al.  Variable Property Effects in Laminar Natural Convection in a Square Enclosure , 1985 .

[40]  Khalil Khanafer,et al.  Effective boundary conditions for buoyancy-driven flows and heat transfer in fully open-ended two-dimensional enclosures , 2002 .

[41]  C. Balaji,et al.  Interaction of radiation with free convection in an open cavity , 1994 .

[42]  I. Sezai,et al.  Three‐dimensional simulation of natural convection in cavities with side opening , 1998 .

[43]  Kambiz Vafai,et al.  Buoyancy-driven flow and heat transfer in open-ended enclosures: elimination of the extended boundaries , 2000 .

[44]  S. Abanades,et al.  Radiative heat transfer analysis of a directly irradiated cavity-type solar thermochemical reactor by Monte-Carlo ray tracing , 2012 .

[45]  H. F. Nouanegue,et al.  Conjugate heat transfer by natural convection, conduction and radiation in open cavities , 2008 .

[46]  J. Hinojosa,et al.  Numerical simulation of steady-state and transient natural convection in an isothermal open cubic cavity , 2010 .

[47]  Abdulmajeed A. Mohamad,et al.  A critical evaluation of force term in lattice Boltzmann method, natural convection problem , 2010 .

[48]  J. F. Hinojosa,et al.  Nusselt number for the natural convection and surface thermal radiation in a square tilted open cavity , 2005 .