Modeling heat exchangers with an open source DEM-based code for granular flows

2021-11
Johnson, Evan F.
Tarı, İlker
Baker, Derek Keıth
Show full item record
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
309
views
34
downloads
Dense granular flows exist in many solid particle heat exchangers and solar receivers studied in the field of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). By tracking particles individually with the Discrete Element Method (DEM), the details of particle friction, collisions, and mixing can be modeled accurately. An open source DEM-based code for modeling heat transfer in dense granular flows is presented, called Dense Particle Heat Transfer (DPHT). It uses one-way coupling, with DEM run first to find the particle positions and DPHT run second to calculate heat transfer between particles and any walls. Heat transfer is computed with six sub-models, including effects from contact conduction, conduction through the thin fluid gap between particles, and thermal radiation. Simulations are run to investigate particle-particle radiation, with DPHT matching a full Monte Carlo ray tracing simulation to within 1.6%, whereas the “local environment temperature” models from literature show physically unrealistic results. As a test of the accuracy of DPHT, a simulation is run to replicate published experimental work, and results in terms of total heat transfer are within 4%. Finally, a tubular heat exchanger is analyzed, and a “radial” mixer design is introduced, increasing heat transfer by 8%. Several DEM-based heat transfer codes have been described in literature, but they are often kept in-house. Some open source codes exist as well, but they generally have drawbacks including missing heat transfer modes, insufficient flexibility to make significant changes, and incomplete documentation. DPHT aims to simplify this modeling method by providing a flexible, open source solution.
General Materials Science, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Discrete element method, Dense granular flow, Particle heat exchanger, Particle-scale heat transfer, Solid particle solar receiver
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/94259
http://users.metu.edu.tr/dbaker/OpenAccess/doi.10.1016.j.solener.2021.09.067.pdf
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Article

Suggestions

Advances in modeling high temperature particle flows in the field of concentrating solar power
Johnson, Evan F.; Tarı, İlker; Baker, Derek Keıth; Department of Mechanical Engineering (2021-2-8)
Within the field of concentrating solar power (CSP), central receiver (“tower”) type systems are capable of achieving temperatures reaching or exceeding 1000 ⁰C. To utilize this heat efficiently, a growing body of research points to the benefits of using solid, sand-like particles as a heat storage medium in CSP plants. Modeling capabilities for flowing groups of particles at high temperatures are lacking in several aspects, and thermal radiation in particle groups has received relatively little attention i...
Modelling and performance analysis of linear fresnel collector for process heat generation for ice cream factory in Konya
Singh, Rahul; Baker, Derek Keıth; Tarı, İlker; Department of Mechanical Engineering (2017)
In this thesis, a linear Fresnel collector has been designed to supply solar heat for industrial process. Firstly, optical analysis using ray tracing is done to determine the effects of collector’s parameters, such as height of receiver, mirror width and profile, gap between adjacent rows and slope deviation. Afterwards, one-dimensional thermal model is presented which predicts surface temperatures of receiver components and heat loss. The results obtained from both optical and thermal studies are then benc...
Investigation of mechanical and thermal properties of sintered bauxite and sand particles as heat transfer and storage media
Uykun, Zeynep; Tarı, İlker; Baker, Derek Keıth; Department of Mechanical Engineering (2021-1-11)
Solid particles have gained an attraction in recent years to be used as a heat transfer and storage medium that can be integrated into various thermal power plants. Particles operate in a closed-loop cycle in the power plants such as Concentrating Solar Power (CSP); firstly, they are heated up in the receiver then carried to the storage system and they discharge their energy to the thermodynamic-cycle. Discrete Element Method (DEM) has been gaining importance for modeling particle-based heat transfer and st...
Simulations of a large scale solar thermal power plant in Turkey using concentrating parabolic trough collectors
Usta, Yasemin; Baker, Derek Keıth; Kaftanoğlu, Bilgin; Department of Mechanical Engineering (2010)
In this study, the theoretical performance of a concentrating solar thermal electric system (CSTES) using a field of parabolic trough collectors (PTC) is investigated. The commercial software TRNSYS and the Solar Thermal Electric Components (STEC) library are used to model the overall system design and for simulations. The model was constructed using data from the literature for an existing 30-MW solar electric generating system (SEGS VI) using PTC’s in Kramer Junction, California. The CSTES consists of a P...
Hydrodynamic ve Thermal Modelling of Circulating Fluidized Bed Solar Receivers
Bilyaz, Serhat; Tarı, İlker (2016-11-17)
The riser tube solar receiver of a circulating fluidized bed solid particle absorption solar thermal energy system was numerically modeled for analyzing hydrodynamic and heat transfer behaviors of the solid particles in the riser. Hydrodynamics of the model is validated by comparing radial distribution of void fractions with an experimental study. For the heat transfer from the opaque walls of the receiver that is heated to high temperatures by the solar rays concentrated by the heliostat field, a simple fr...
Citation Formats
E. F. Johnson, İ. Tarı, and D. K. Baker, “Modeling heat exchangers with an open source DEM-based code for granular flows,” Solar Energy, vol. 228, pp. 374–386, 2021, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/94259.
METU IIS - Integrated Information Service open@metu.edu.tr