A Two-Dimensional Numerical Study of Hydrodynamic, Heat and Mass Transfer and Stability in a Salt Gradient Solar Pond

Ridha Boudhiaf, Ali Ben Moussa and Mounir Baccar
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Ridha Boudhiaf: Unit of Computational Fluid Dynamics and Transfer Phenomena (CFDTP), Department of Mechanical Engineers, National Engineering School of Sfax, Street of Soukra, Km 3.5, B.P. 1173, Sfax 3038, Tunisia
Ali Ben Moussa: Unit of Computational Fluid Dynamics and Transfer Phenomena (CFDTP), Department of Mechanical Engineers, National Engineering School of Sfax, Street of Soukra, Km 3.5, B.P. 1173, Sfax 3038, Tunisia
Mounir Baccar: Unit of Computational Fluid Dynamics and Transfer Phenomena (CFDTP), Department of Mechanical Engineers, National Engineering School of Sfax, Street of Soukra, Km 3.5, B.P. 1173, Sfax 3038, Tunisia

Energies, 2012, vol. 5, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: In this work, the problem of hydrodynamic, heat and mass transfer and stability in a salt gradient solar pond has been numerically studied by means of computational fluid dynamics in transient regime. The body of the simulated pond is an enclosure of height H and length L wherein an artificial salinity gradient is created in order to suppress convective motions induced by solar radiation absorption and to stabilize the solar pond during the period of operation. Here we show the distribution of velocity, temperature and salt concentration fields during energy collection and storage in a solar pond filled with water and constituted by three different salinity zones. The bottom of the pond is blackened and the free-surface is subjected to heat losses by convection, evaporation and radiation while the vertical walls are adiabatic and impermeable. The governing equations of continuity, momentum, thermal energy and mass transfer are discretized by finite–volume method in transient regime. Velocity vector fields show the presence of thin convective cells in the upper convective zone (UCZ) and large convective cells in the lower convective zone (LCZ). This study shows the importance of buoyancy ratio in the decrease of temperature in the UCZ and in the preservation of high temperature in the LCZ. It shows also the importance of the thickness of Non-Convective Zone (NCZ) in the reduction of the upwards heat losses.

Keywords: energy collection and storage; transient fluid flow, heat and mass transfer; salt gradient solar pond; solar radiation absorption; computational study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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