Experimental and CFD analysis of performance of solar chimney power plant prototype

Abstract

The solar chimney is a low-temperature power station generating electricity. The most important parameterizes the value of the air velocity along the chimney. A 3D numerical model is developed to estimate and analyze various parameters of the solar chimney power plant prototype set up in Ibn Khaldoun University, Tiaret. Computational simulations have been conducted using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code COMSOL 5.2. The turbulence model k-ε was tested to present the distribution of the air flow characteristics such as the velocity, the temperature, the pressure, and the turbulence characteristics. The results were validated by comparing them with the experimental data of the prototype. The results revealed the same value of the velocity in the experimental prototype and numerical model equal 2.5 m/s, the temperature recorded (72-76) °C in the prototype and 72°C in a numerical model. The comparison between the numerical and the experimental results showed a good agreement.