Numerical Simulation of a Solar Chimney Power Plant

This study investigates the buoyancy-driven flow and heat transfer characteristics through a solar chimney power plant system. For this purpose, a three-dimensional unsteady model with the RNG k-ε turbulence closure was developed, using computational fluid dynamics techniques. In this model, to solve the radiative transfer equation the discrete ordinates (DO) radiation model was implemented, using a two-band radiation model. To simulate radiation effects from the sun’s rays, the solar ray tracing algorithm was coupled to the calculation via a source term in the energy equation. Simulations were carried out for a system with the geometry parameters of the Manzanares power plant. Based on the numerical results, the velocity and temperature distributions were illustrated and the results were validated by comparing with experimental data of the Manzanares prototype power plant.