TITLE:
Numerical Investigation of Wind Flow around a Cylindrical Trough Solar Collector
AUTHORS:
Seyyed Mohammad Nima Shojaee, Mohammad Adel Moradian, Mashhood Mashhoodi
KEYWORDS:
Component, Flow Analysis, Wind Forces, Solar Collectors, Cylindrical Trough Collector, Computational, Solar Energy
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.3 No.1,
January
9,
2015
ABSTRACT: The goal of this study is to model the effects of wind on Cylindrical Trough Collectors (CTCs). Two major areas are discussed in this paper: 1) heat losses due to wind flow over receiver pipe and 2) average forces applied on the collector’s body. To accomplish these goals a 2D modeling of CTC was carried out using commercial codes with various wind velocities and collector orientations. Ambient temperature was assumed to be constant at 300 K and for specific geometries different meshing methods and boundary conditions were used in various runs. Validation was done by comparing the simulation results for a horizontal collector with empirical data. It was observed that maximum force of 509.1 Newton per Meter occurs at +60 degrees. Nusselt number is almost the constant for positive angles while at negative angles it varies considerably with the collector’s orientation.