Influence of different flow models on numerical simulation of solar updraft tower

Abstract

Solar updraft tower is a new kind of solar heat utilization technology. In the numerical simulation of solar updraft towers, selecting different flow models will affect the accuracy of prediction results. To improve the reliability of the numerical simulation results of the solar updraft tower, this paper uses the solar load model is used to simulate the local conditions of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China at different times, and adds the ambient crosswind air domain to simulate the operation of the device under the actual environmental conditions. Laminar flow, Re-Normalisation Group (RNG), transition, and k-omega shear stress transport (SST) models were selected according to the Reynolds number corresponding to the characteristic length of the system at different positions to simulate and predict the flow field in the solar updraft tower heat collection system, and the results were compared with the test data. The results show that in the simulation of Hohhot at 13:00 and 17:00 on July 19, compared with the RNG model, the relative errors of the calculated data and experimental data of the transition model are reduced by 1.04% and 0.1%, respectively. The surface temperature distribution of the absorber is more consistent with the actual physical law. The superiority of the transition model in the numerical simulation of solar updraft tower is verified.