Effect of the artificial roughness dispositions on the thermal exchanges in a flat solar collector.

Abstract

In this thesis, a numerical and experimental study of different position of the baffles in a solar air heater have been presented in order to improve its thermal and hydraulic performance. The numerical study was performed on four cases corresponding to different placements of baffles, where the experimental model of the solar air heater was designed, manufactured and used for the validation of the numerical model. The CFD simulations have been performed by ANSYS FLUENT 15.0. Based on the obtained results, the new baffle placements show that effective thermo-hydraulic performance is not just a function of the shape or changes in the geometric parameters of the baffles. The correct placement of baffles dramatically improves the thermohydraulic performance of solar air heaters. The effect of baffle positions on local convective heat transfer coefficients has been discussed