Search

This paper presents a numerical investigation of the natural convection in an inclined rectangular enclosure with a baffle filled with Cu/water and then with Al2O3/water nanofluids using the finite difference method for tracking the thermal behavior within it versus the baffle length. The horizontal enclosure walls are assumed to be adiabatic, while the vertical ones are supposed to be a differentially heated. A thin horizontal baffle was attached to its left sidewall and is assumed to be cold. The flow and thermal fields are computed, respectively, for various values of Rayleigh number (103 ≤ Ra ≤ 105), inclination angle (0° ≤ ∅ ≤ 60°), baffle length (0.25 ≤ Lb ≤ 0.5), solid volume fraction (0.02 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.06), and aspect ratio (1 ≤ AR ≤ 2). It was found that as the Rayleigh number, solid volume fraction, baffle length, and aspect ratio increase, an enhancement in the intensity of fluid flow in the enclosure was observed. In comparison, it reduces when the inclination angle increases. Moreover, it was found that the local Nusselt number (Nuc) enhances with the rise in Rayleigh number and the solid volume fraction. In contrast, it reduces with the increase in the aspect ratio and the inclination angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental and numerical investigation of a small linear Fresnel for water heating application has been carried out in Blida, Algeria. The numerical simulation with a 1D modeling in transient mode was performed by using the finite difference method. The thermal evaluation is based on the energy assessments characterized by the differential equations of pure water with a flow mass rate equal to 0.015 kg s−1 and copper absorber tube temperature. Moreover, the Fluent code has been developed in order to conduct the CFD modeling at the absorber tube of the solar collector. SolTrace software has been used to determine the optical behavior of the linear reflector. The average optical efficiency of the device is about 42.97%, but the average value of the experimental thermal efficiency reached 29.21% for 22/01/2015 and 29.20% for 19/02/2015. The average value of pure water temperature for 22/01/2015 is 67.28 °C, while its value for 19/02/2015 is 70.99 °C. This solar experimental setup will reduce the consumption of liquefied natural gas by 88.9 m3, which will reduce the CO2 emission by 187.93 kg. In addition, its manufacturing cost will be recovered 16 years from the date of use of this heater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]