CFD-Based Comparative Investigation of Smooth and Hybrid Roughened Absorber Plates in a Solar Air Heater

Abstract

The present study investigates the comparatives of smooth and hybrid roughened absorber plate in solar air heater (SAH). CFD analysis of both the plates has been performed using Ansys software. Three-dimensionalCFD model was developed to investigate the thermo-hydraulic performance (THPP). The turbulence model SSTk–ω has been applied with a constant heat flux and the Reynolds number(Re) ranged 1100-5100. The analyses of flow and thermal behavior have been analyzed using velocity, temperature, and pressure contours. Further the Nusselt number (Nu), friction factor(f), and THPP has been calculated based on the CFD results.It has been observed from the results that the hybrid roughened absorber plate depicts the improved heat transfer than the baseline.The Nufound to be increased from 9.86 to 17.61 for the hybrid plate while 8.64 to 17.19 for the smooth absorber plate corresponding to Reranges.Although the ffound to be higher for hybrid (0.228–0.088) than smooth plate (0.153–0.060) but the overall THPP remained superior from hybrid plate. So, the results depicts that the proposed hybrid roughened absorber plate is an effective heat transfer enhancement technique in SAH.