Volume 46, Issue 10 pp. 14436-14451
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Numerical investigation of turbulent flow across a SiC ceramic foam

Muhammad Faizan

Muhammad Faizan

Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Search for more papers by this author
Abdulrahman Salman Almerbati

Corresponding Author

Abdulrahman Salman Almerbati

Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Interdisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy & Power Systems, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Correspondence

Abdulrahman Salman Almerbati, Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.

Email: [email protected]

Search for more papers by this author
Bekir Sami Yilbas

Bekir Sami Yilbas

Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Interdisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy & Power Systems, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

K.A.CARE Energy Research & Innovation Center, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 30 May 2022
Citations: 3

Funding information: King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy; King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Summary

A porous volumetric absorber in the solar thermal system is a promising utility for energy harvesting applications. The hydrodynamic behavior and thermal performance of porous structures in the absorber remain critical for efficient operation. Hence, in the present study, the assessment of SiC foam in a volumetric absorber is carried out for a concentrated solar energy harvesting system. In the numerical study, a 3D model of actual SiC foam is incorporated and the discrete ordinates radiation model, which is fully coupled with conduction and convection heat transfer, is adopted. A three-dimensional computed tomography scan (CT-scan) of porous SiC foam is imported for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling. The porous SiC absorber characteristics are examined for two working fluids including air and water. The overall thermal performance of the solar harvesting system is evaluated through the normalized Nusselt number and thermal efficiencies based on outlet and maximum temperatures. It is observed that utilizing porous SiC foam considerably improves the thermal performance of the solar harvesting system. A significant improvement is observed in the Nusselt number while demonstrating the convection is the apparent heating mode in the porous system, provided that the pressure loss of the channel with SiC foam is not substantially high.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article. Any more information will be made available upon request.

The full text of this article hosted at iucr.org is unavailable due to technical difficulties.