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DISSERTATION APPROVAL
The dissertation entitled CFD Investigation of Thermocline Behavior in Thermal Storage
Tank by Mr. Mainak Bhaumik is being approved for the award of Master of Engineering (Mechanical) in Thermal Engineering.
-----------------------------External Examiner
---------------------------------------PRINCIPAL
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this dissertation titled CFD Investigation of Thermocline Behavior in
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Its a great pleasure to acknowledge those whose active help and support make this thesis possible in the present form. First, the author would like to thank the project guide Dr. R. S. Maurya, for his endless guidance and constant encouragement. The author gratefully acknowledges Dr. Roshini Easow for her valuable help and suggestions. My sincere thanks to staff members of mechanical engineering department of Sardar Patel College of Engineering, for their technical help that author received during the whole period. Finally, no thanks will ever be enough for my parents, friends, colleagues and other members of my family. It is their unconditional love, enthusiastic support and encouragement which remained as the real source of inspiration to me and kept me going. Words would fail to express my indebtedness, especially, to my parents, who have gone through many hardships in making me what I am today.
Mainak Bhaumik
ABSTRACT
Thermal stratified storage tanks are an effective method to improve the efficiency of thermal storage devices that are commonly used in thermal systems when the available energy source is irregular or when a time lag exists between the production and the demand. Thermocline behavior and thermal stratification of hot water storage tanks during the stagnation mode is investigated using CFD tools. 2D CFD investigation of thermocline behavior in the hot water thermal storage tank has been carried out. A commercial code ANSYS Fluent 6.3 has been used for solving and post processing of the data. The study addresses the change in water stratification due to thermocline layer growth during the cool down of the water inside the storage tank of thermal systems in the 90 to 20 temperature
range, which lies within the operating range of most conventional and solar hot water and liquid based heating systems. The simulation is carried out with different cases in which the initial thermocline is set for different height of the hot water storage tank with Fluent. Results are analyzed for cooling rate of water in the storage tank and thermocline thickness development in the storage tank.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Abstract Contents List of Figures List of Tables iv v vi viii x
Chapter No.
Chapter 1 1.1 1.2 Introduction Energy Storage
Title
Page No.
1 1 2 2 3 6 13 13 14 15 17 17 21 21 22 22 24 24 25 25
1.2.1 Water Heating 1.2.2 Solar Heating 1.3 1.4 Thermal Stratification Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
1.4.1 Applications of CFD 1.4.2 CFD Methodology 1.4.3 Processes in CFD Chapter 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 Chapter 3 3.1 3.2 3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.3 Chapter 4 4.1 Literature Review Literature Review Objective and Scope Methodology Problem Definition Problem Definition Governing Equations Continuity Equation Energy Equation Momentum Equation Boundary conditions Numerical Implication Computational Domain
26 26
4.2 4.3 4.4 Chapter 5 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Chapter 6
Mesh Problem and Solution Set up in Fluent 6.3 Grid Independent Test Results and Discussions Results and Discussions Temperature contours Buoyancy Driver Flow Heat loss from Tank Comparison of Case Results Conclusions Future Scope References
27 29 37 38 38 39 54 58 63 64 65 66
List of Figures
Figure No.
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3
Title
Schematic diagram of SDHW System Schematic diagram of natural stratification of River and Ocean Water Schematic diagram of thermal stratification of Water in the SDHW Storage tank
Page No.
5 7 8
Figure 4
Different levels of stratification within storage tank withequivalent stored energy a) highly stratified, b) moderately stratified and c) fully mixed unstratified storage tank
Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10 Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Figure 15 Figure 16 Figure 17 Figure 18 Figure 19 Figure 20 Figure 21 Figure 22 Figure 23 Figure 24
Destratification Factor Control Volume Basic structure of Fluent Solver Schematic of the hot water storage tank under study Computational Domain Complete 2-D view of coarse mesh size is 18,360 Boundary conditions applied to case 1 Boundary conditions applied to case 2 Boundary conditions applied to case 3 Boundary conditions applied to case 4 Boundary conditions applied to case 5 Grid independent test Computational model of storage tank at a time interval of 00hr Case 01 transient temperature contour at 50% of tank height Case 01 transient behavior of temperature profile v/s height of tank Better visualization of thermocline plots of case 01 Case 02 transient behavior of temperature profile v/s height of tank Case 02 comparison plots of temperature profile Case 03 transient behavior of temperature profile v/s height of tank Case 03 comparison plots of temperature profile
11 13 16 22 26 28 34 34 35 35 36 37 39 41 42 42 44 45 47 48
Figure 25 Figure 26
Case 04 CFD calculated temperature profile in the tank Case 04 CFD calculated temperature profile at different heights of the tank
50 50
Figure 27 Figure 28
Case 04 CFD calculated velocity profile at different heights of the tank Case 04 CFD comparison plots of temperature profile at one hour interval
51 51
Figure 29
52
Figure 30
Case 05 CFD calculated water temperatures in the tank with initially uniform temperature
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Case 05 CFD calculated temperature profile in the tank Case 05 CFD calculated temperature profile at different heights CFD calculated vertical fluid velocities at different heights CFD calculated vertical fluid velocities at different times Schematic diagram of a tank consisting of N layers The influence of stratification on heat loss removal factor for cooling starting with a uniform temperature of 900C (case 05)
55 55 56 57 60 61
Figure 37
The heat exchange between layers v/s temperature gradient in the tank for cooling with a uniform temperature of 900C (case 05)
61
Figure 38
The influence of stratification on heat loss removal factor for cooling in the stratified tank (case 04)
62
Figure 39
The heat exchange between layers v/s temperature gradient in the stratified tank (case 04)
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List of Tables
Table No. Title Page No.
Mesh information ..27 Problem Set up29 Properties of water.......30 Solution Set up.31 Relaxation settings in FLUENT...32 Boundary conditions applied to various cases..33
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CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
1.1 Energy Storage:
Energy storage as a natural process is as old as the universe itself. The energy present at the initial formation of the universe has been stored in stars such as Sun, and is now being used by humans directly for example through solar heating or indirectly for example by growing crops or conversion into electricity in solar cells. As a purposeful activity, energy storage has existed since pre-history; through it was often not explicitly recognized as such. An example of deliberate mechanical energy storage is the use of logs or boulders were collected at the top of a hill or wall and the energy thus stored used to attack invaders who came within range. A more recent application is the control of waterways to drive water mills for processing grain or powering machinery. Complex systems of reservoirs and dams were constructed to store and release water and also potential energy is contained and can be used when required.
called phase change material (PCM). When PCM melts heat is released; heat is extracted and stored when the PCM substance freezes or initially being in solid state. Sensible heat storage systems operate over a range of temperatures, while latent heat storage systems operate essentially at the temperature at which the phase change takes place. Other forms of storage are possible if the application involves some energy conversion process. For example, from internal conversion engine mechanical work is being obtained after conversion of thermal energy. Here also energy storage can be done using large sized flywheel. Similarly electrical power can be stored and being obtained after conversion. Electric energy can be stored in the form of electric batteries. Many types of electric batteries are used for the purpose; the most common being is the lead-acid batteries.
space heating. In industry, both hot water and water heated to steam have many uses.
Domestically, water is traditionally heated in vessels known as water heaters, kettles, pots etc. These metal vessels heat a batch of water but do not produce a continual supply of heated water at a preset temperature. The temperature of hot water varies based on the consumption rate of hot water, use of hot water and the cooling rate of hot water. Appliances for providing a more-or-less constant supply of hot water are variously known as water heaters, hot water storage tanks,
boilers, heat exchangers, or geysers depending on whether they are heating potable or nonpotable water, in domestic or industrial use, their energy source, and in which part of the world 12
they are found. In domestic installations, potable water heater is used which is known as domestic
hot water (DHW). There are two types of water heaters one is storage hot water system and the
other is instantaneous or continuous hot water flow systems. Both the system can use a variety of energy sources to heat water. In hot water storage system water is heated and stored in an
insulated tank for use when it is required. This storage of hot water systems can operate on mains pressure and from gravity feed constant pressure tank. Mains pressure tank delivers hot water at
a similar pressure and flow rate to cold water so more than one outlet can usually be turned on without greatly affecting pressure. The storage tank is usually located at ground level inside or outside the house. Mains pressure systems have been the most popular systems in recent decades. While Constant pressure or gravity feed system delivers hot water at lower than mains
pressure from a tank which is located above the ground level in domestic cases mostly in the roof
of the house. Pressure depends on the height difference between the tank and the point of use. It is thermosyphonic type and based on the density difference of water, the water flows. They are often cheaper to purchase and last longer than mains pressure systems. For either type of system, storage tanks may be made of copper, glass (enamel) lined steel or stainless steel. Copper and glass-lined tanks typically have a sacrificial anode to reduce tank corrosion, which needs to be replaced every few years. Instantaneous water heater systems heat the water only when it is required and do not use a storage tank. They can operate on natural gas, LPG or electricity. Gas models are available with either electronic ignition or a pilot flame. They can be mounted internally or externally. The various energy sources for heating water are- Solar energy, Electricity, Natural gas, LPG,
has attained higher temperature than the surrounding air, it will exchange heat with the air by way of convection. Again, as the dark material is exposed to the atmosphere, it will exchange heat with the atmosphere by way of radiation. Solar domestic hot water (SDHW) storage system can provide up to ninety percent of hot water for free using the Suns energy. Only thing is it is dependent on climatic condition. Solar systems cost more to buy and install initially but the extra upfront cost will be recovered over the life of the system through reduced energy bills. Solar systems will take longer to recover their costs in smaller households, in cooler parts of the country, or where access to sunlight is restricted.
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collector enters into the tank through a heat exchanger it may shell and tube type or spiral coil type or of mental tank. There is no direct contact of hot water of collector and the cold water of the tank. The hot water remains within the heat exchanger itself and due to that more thermal stratification within the tank can be achieved. Due to advantages of achieving more thermal stratification in the tank, the indirect mixing heat exchanger type hot water tank is preferred. But only thing is there is additional cost of heat exchanger and piping is increased. Natural convection SDHW storage system is also called as thermosyphonic type storage tank as there is no involvement of pump in this system to supply hot water into the tank. It works based on the temperature and density difference of water, as the water gets heated up it becomes lighter and it rises up automatically and enters into the top of the tank, while cold denser water from the bottom of the tank fills the empty space within the collector and collector piping. Additional electric heater also can be placed inside the tank to worm water during the summer season while sunlight is unavailable or at the night while the stored hot water is not sufficient hot or to supply more extra demand of hot water.
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Fig.2: Schematic diagram of natural thermal stratification of river and ocean water.
17
Fig.3: Schematic diagram of thermal stratification of water in the SDHW storage tank.
18
a)
b)
c) Fig. 4: Different levels of stratification within storage tank with equivalent stored energy (a) highly stratified, (b) moderately stratified and (c) a fully mixed, unstratified storage tank.
19
20
tank and all tank attachments helps to reduce destratification. Choosing a right type of insulation is also a cause to avoid destratification of tank.
21
Investigation of thermal stratification and thermocline thickness: The methods to assess performance in hot water thermal energy storage (TES) and
thermocline movement can be by using- experimental, analytical and numerical modeling. Experimental methods are quite costly. While analytical models needs extensive assumptions which render models incomplete but it is necessary as assumptions helps to avoid complication of equations and easier to solve. Therefore there has been a growing need for numerical models to describe TES systems, thereby allowing computational methods to help in solving governing equations. Most fluid flow and heat transfer problems can be solved by using commercially available numerical software and computational codes. These are mainly of two types- finite
element methods (FEMs) and finite volume methods (FVMs). The FEM divides the domain into
a number of elements or nodes (points), while the FVM separates the domain into volumes or cells. Both the methods use various techniques in order to achieve convergence. The FVM has been used extensively in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), since its conservative nature allows for a good simulation of many fluid flow phenomena. There are several commercial CFD codes present in the market like Ansys, CFX, and Fluent etc. In the present study of TES tank CFD Fluent 10.0 code used as a solver.
22
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forward flight. Rotors and propellers can be represented with models of varying complexity. The temperature distribution obtained from a CFD analysis of a mixing manifold is shown below. This mixing manifold is part of the passenger cabin ventilation system on the Boeing 767. The CFD analysis showed the effectiveness of a simpler manifold design without the need for field testing. Bio-medical engineering is a rapidly growing field and uses CFD to study the circulatory and respiratory systems. The following figure shows pressure contours and a cutaway view that reveals velocity vectors in a blood pump that assumes the role of heart in open-heart surgery. CFD is attractive to industry since it is more cost-effective than physical testing. However, one must note that complex flow simulations are challenging and error-prone and it takes a lot of engineering expertise to obtain validated solutions. A CFD technique is powerful and spans a wide range of industrial and non industrial application areas. It is also used by engineers and scientist in a wide range of fields. Typical applications include:
Process industry : mixing vessels , chemical reactors Building services: ventilation of building, such as atria. Health and safety : investigating the effects of fire and smoke Motor industries: combustion modeling, car aerodynamics. Turbo machinery: flow inside rotating passages, nozzles, diffusers etc. Electrical and electronics: heat transfer within and around circuit boards, transformers and other electrical appliances. Environmental: dispersion of pollutants in air or water.
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4. Boundary conditions are defined. This involves specifying the fluid behavior and properties at the boundaries of the problem. For transient problems, the initial conditions are also defined. 5. The equations are solved iteratively as a steady-state or transient case depending on the physical situation. 6. Analysis and visualization of the resulting solution.
Preprocessing:
This is the first step in building and analyzing a flow model. It includes building the model within a computer-aided design (CAD) package, creating and applying a suitable computational mesh, and entering the flow boundary conditions and fluid materials properties. There are used the ICEM software for this purpose. CAD geometries are easily imported and adapted for CFD solutions in ICEM.
Solving:
The CFD solver does the flow calculations and produces the results. There are four generalpurpose products: FLUENT, FloWizard, FIDAP, and POLYFLOW. There is used FLUENT CFD code because it has extensive interactivity, so it can make changes to the analysis at any time during the process. This saves time and enables to refine the designs more efficiently.
Post processing:
This is the final step in CFD analysis, and it involves the organization and interpretation of the predicted flow data and the production of CFD images and animations. All of Fluent's software
25
products include full post processing capabilities. Post processing tools enable to provide several levels of reporting, so it can satisfy the needs in design process.
26
Zurigat, et al. (1991) performed an analytical and an experimental investigation on the influence of inlet geometry on mixing in stratified thermal energy storage. The authors found that the inlet geometry had a significant influence on the thermal stratification in a storage tank for Richardson numbers below 3.6 while the inlet geometry effect was negligible for Richardson numbers above 10.
A study by Al-Najem and El-Refaee (1997) concluded that the turbulent mixing (or eddy conductivity) factor caused by hydrodynamic disturbances at the inlet and outlet ports of storage tank played an important role in the performance of thermal stratification storage tanks. The authors also investigated the tank inflow situations that included two configurations: the upper inflow and the lower inflow. The authors found that the inlet hot water from the solar collector that enters the tank from the top would easily build stratification, but colder inflow at the top of tank would completely mix the temperature field inside the tank. Eames and Norton (1998) performed a theoretical and experimental investigation into the thermal performance of stratified hot water tanks. A finite volume based model was validated by comparison with measured temperatures from a series of thirty-two experiments in which the inlet velocity and temperature ranged between 25 to 90 mm/s and 11C to 52C, respectively, and various permutations of inlet and outlet port locations and initial storage stratification profiles were tested. A parametric analysis determined the effect of inlet and outlet port locations on storage performance for a range of operating conditions. The effects of finite volume size on predicted levels of entrainment and diffusion in the inlet region were reported. The results indicated that storage tank charging was performed more efficiently for tall tanks with the inlet port near the top. Andersen and Furbo (1999) measured mixing or destratification during hot water discharge in solar tanks with different inlet designs. Based on measurements and on detailed simulation models, the influence of mixing on the yearly thermal performance of solar storage tanks was calculated. It was found that the decrease in the yearly thermal performance utilization of solar energy was up to 23% due to mixing during hot water draw offs. In the work done by Shah and Furbo (2003) the impact of the inlet design with different baffle plates on the flow patterns in the tank were investigated using numerical method and validated by experiments. A simple, straight pipe with no baffle, hemispherical baffle plate and a large flat baffle plate were compared under different discharge times and flow rates (1 L/min or 10 L/min). The performance of the diffuser was characterized by the ability of the tank to maintain stratification, when cold fluid was added to the tank. Entropy and availability analyses were used to 28
evaluate the level of stratification. The results showed that the entropy changes and availability changes in the storage during the draw-off were influenced by the Richardson number and initial temperature difference between top and bottom of the tank. Sensible cool thermal storage with chilled water as the storage medium is a widely used and effective energy management technique that reduces energy cost through load shifting. John M et al. (2004), performed parametric study of single pipe diffusers in stratified chilled water storage tanks. The diffuser pipe is installed at the top of the tank from where hot water enters into the storage tank. It was found that thermocline thickness used in the analysis of the data, a very large range of thicknesses was obtained. Altuntop, et al. (2005) studied the effect of using different baffles on thermal stratification in a cylindrical hot water tank using various mathematical models. Later the findings were validated by experimentation. Temperature distributions within the tank for 12 different baffles were obtained. The results indicated that placing baffles in the tank provides better thermal stratification compared to the no baffle case. A CFD integrated analysis of a large-scale hot water seasonal heat store was numerically studied by Panthalookaran et al. (2007), to identify the effects of aspect ratio, containment shape, internal structures and containment size on their efficiency. Numerical study of the aspect ratio effects on the stratification in water storage tanks conducted by H. Aloui and C.Bouden, 2008. It was observed that the thermal performance of solar heating systems is highly influenced by the thermal stratification in the heat storage. The purpose of their study was to figure out the thermal stratification mechanism inside a water storage tank and to study the influence of the aspect ratio and thereby to determine an optimum design of the tank. Fan et al. (2009) did experimental and CFD analysis on thermal stratification in a hot water tank established by heat loss from the tank. A vertical cylindrical hot water tank experimentally and numerically investigated for thermal stratification and natural convection for standby periods. The transient fluid flow and heat transfer in the tank during cooling caused by heat loss are investigated by CFD calculations and by thermal measurements. Temperature Profile and Thermocline Thickness of a stratified thermal energy storage tank has been has been analyzed by Joko Waluyo et al. (2010). They have determined thermocline thickness based on water temperature distribution inside the tank. The water temperature distribution profile formed could move either upward or downward during charging or discharging 29
cycles. Using continuous profile, thermocline thickness is accurately identified as asymptote regions with limit points. Method used was discrete data of temperature distribution. CFD analysis of a density dependent valve within a hot water system carried out by Helen Smith et al. 2010. The purpose of the valve is to allow water to circulate within the system when the temperature of the water rises above a critical valve. From Archimedes principle, a buoyancy oat made from a given material will rise when below a critical temperature and sink when above a critical temperature. Investigated the valves behavior under specific conditions to modulate the flow rate and maximize thermal stratification of the renewable energy storage tank. CFD solution and experimental testing of buoyancy driven convection caused by condensers immersed in a water tank given by Z. Gao et al. In their study a straight and L shaped condenser coils was used. However when the coil was built in an L shape, the water stratification disappeared. Results from CFD simulation were compared with the experimental data and found to be close to each other. Michael et al. (2010) investigated Thermocline Movement Dynamics and Thermocline Growth in Stratified Tanks for Heat Storage. An experimental and numerical study using a scale model of an industrial stratified tank (aspect ratio 3.5) and a Perspex tank (aspect ratio 8.2) are reported. The height to diameter ratio (AR) is a factor that influences stratification. Abdul Jabbar et al. (2011) did experimental study of temperature stratification in a thermal storage tank in the static mode for different aspect ratios. Thermal behavior and stratification of hot water storage tank during the stagnation or static mode investigated experimentally for three different aspect ratios (AR) of the tank, namely 2, 1 and . They have concluded that a better thermal stratification can be achieved by increasing the aspect ratio. The paper Michael et al. has been taken for investigation. The transient analysis of static stratified storage tank has been extended for better visualization and to capture thermocline growth profile in insulated tank.
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2.3 Methodology:
The methods carried out to solve the problem are as follows Creating a model for the problem using ICEM Software. Discritized the model using ICEM Software. Solve the problem using Fluent 10.0 Software.
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Case1:
In case1 SDHW storage tank is considered as an adiabatic wall and having with different hot and cold water zone. Initial thermocline is set at 50% of the tank height. Hot water initial temperature is 80C at the above of thermocline and cold water initial temperature is 20C below the thermocline line. Heat diffusion occurred due to natural convection in between hot and cold water zone are captured for transient state. Tank wall is theoretical adiabatic wall with no heat loss from the tank walls and no heat generation from the walls.
Case2:
In case2 SDHW storage tank is considered as an adiabatic wall and having with different hot and cold water zone. Initial thermocline is set at 80% of the tank height. Hot water initial temperature is 80C at the above of thermocline and cold water initial temperature is 20C below the thermocline line. Heat diffusion occurred due to natural convection in between hot and cold water zone are captured for transient state. Tank wall is theoretical adiabatic wall with no heat loss from the tank walls and no heat generation from the walls.
Case3:
In case3 SDHW storage tank is considered as an adiabatic wall and having with different hot and cold water zone. Initial thermocline is set at 20% of the tank height. Hot water initial temperature is 80C at the above of thermocline and cold water initial temperature is 20C below the thermocline line. Heat diffusion occurred due to natural convection in between hot and cold water zone are captured for transient state. Tank wall is theoretical adiabatic wall with no heat loss from the tank walls and no heat generation from the walls.
33
Case 4:
In case4 SDHW storage tank is considered as a nonadiabatic wall and having with different hot and cold water zone. Tank wall is uninsulated, so heat loss from the tank wall and the heat diffusion from thermocline line set at 50% of tank height are captured for transient state. Hot zone is at 80 while cold water is at 20 in between thermocline layer is set at 50% of tank height from where thermocline growth occurs.
u v + =0 x y
(1)
34
+v
(2)
+v
(3)
35
36
4.2 Mesh:
The dimensions of initial model have been taken for analysis from Fig.8 of problem definition. By using the dimensions from the considered model, the geometry has been created in ICEM. The standard commands like point, arc, and mesh are used to create the complete geometry. Meshing also known as grid generation, is a discretization of model into smaller regions called as grids or elements. Generated grid has a significant effect on rate of convergence (or even lack of convergence), accuracy and computation time. So it is important to select appropriate elements type, meshing scheme and grid density. When we mesh any topological entity (except vertex), ICEM creates mesh nodes throughout it according to the specified meshing parameters like meshing scheme, spacing between nodes etc. The main task in meshing was to create a complete orthogonal structure grid. In meshing model scheme, hexahedral map meshing is used. The complete two dimensional coarse mesh model of mesh size 18360 is as shown in the Fig.10 to describe how the mesh is created for complete model. The same domain mesh size is refined for very fine mesh of mesh size 73,440. After grid independent test with eight different grids and out of that four grids those are giving the similar results and coinciding with the results of each other are accepted. Very fine mesh of mesh size 36,780 is used in the following simulations. Table 1 gives the details of domain and grid size. While Fig. 10 shows the pictorial view of CFD meshed model of the computational domain.
Number of Grids
18,360
37
38
Problem setup:
Software need problem data set up is configured as per different cases of problem. Basically problem consists of solid area in which incompressible fluid water is there. Pressure based solver is selected to solve transient heat transfer of selected incompressible fluid. CFD implicit scheme is adopted to solve the problem. The geometry of the problem is 2 dimensional. Unsteady temperature behavior of water need to be obtained from the problem. All such problem setup data is tabulated in the Table 2. The properties of water at a temperature of 27 are also listed down in Table 3.
39
Value
4187.7 J / kg. k 0.000653 kg / m. s 0.003 k-1 997.044 kg / m3 0.618 w/m k.
Solution setup:
Natural-convection flow is modeled with Boussinesq approximation during CFD simulation. The buoyancy for an incompressible fluid with constant fluid properties is modeled by using the Boussinesq approximation in ANSYS FLUENT 6.3. The model uses a constant density fluid model but applies a local gravitational body force throughout the physical domain which is a linear function of the fluid thermal expansion coefficient () and the local temperature difference
relative to a datum called the buoyancy reference temperature. The Boussinesq approximation models the change in density using eq.4.
( ref) = ref. (T Tref) Where, T is the local temperature in K, Tref is the buoyancy reference temperature in K, is the thermal expansion coefficient in K-1, ref is the density of water in kg/m3 and is the local density in kg/m3
(4)
A zero velocity field is assumed at the start of all simulations. The calculation is considered convergent for the continuity equation, the momentum equations and energy equations. The
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simulation runs with a time step of 1second and a duration of 1 hour and 24 hours. Table 3 gives solution control and solution setup. Table 4: Solution Setup Sr. No 01 02 03 04 Solution Control Parameters Pressure Energy equation activation Momentum equation activation Time step Solution Setup Adopted PRESTO and SIMPLE Second Order Upwind Second Order Upwind 01s
Relaxation:
Each of the variables (mass, moment, density) represents an equation the solver is trying to solve. Each iteration values obtained for the variables should get closer and closer together. Relaxation factors make solution take a lot longer to converge. Because of the nonlinearity of the equation set being solved by FLUENT, it is necessary to control the change of . This is typically achieved by under-relaxation, which reduces the change of produced during each iteration. In a simple form, the new value of the variable within a cell depends upon the old value, old, the computed change in , , and the under-relaxation factor, , as follows: = old + The relaxation settings are tabulated in Table 4. (5)
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Variable
Pressure Density Body Forces Momentum Energy
Relaxation Factor
0.30 1.0 1.0 0.70 1.0
Boundary conditions:
The equations relating to fluid flow can be closed (numerically) by the specification of conditions on the external boundaries of a domain. It is the boundary conditions that produce different solutions for a given geometry and set of physical models. Hence boundary conditions determine to a large extent the characteristics of the solution we obtain. Therefore, it is important to set boundary conditions that accurately reflect the real situation to obtain accurate results. Various boundary conditions as per need applied to the problem cases are tabulated in the table 3.
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Table 6: Boundary conditions applied to various cases Sr. No 01 Boundary Conditions Adiabatic wall Thermocline 02 Case 01 Case 02 Case 03 Case 04 Case 05
Yes Thermocline
Yes Thermocline
Yes Thermocline
No Thermocline
set within the set at 50% of set at 80% of set at 20% of set at 50% of tank height Initial Hot tank height 80 tank height 80 tank height 80 tank height 80
03
04
20
20
20
20
05
----------
----------
----------
293 K
293 K
43
44
45
46
47
thermocline at initial time is more as compared to same in later time because of decrease in thermal gradient. The results are validated with the experimental and CFD results of Michael et al. (2010). Simulation is extended for more time period of increased hours and for a week to note done the change in stratification from highly stratified tank to moderately stratified tank and then mixed unstratified storage tank.
48
49
hours time period. The Fig. 19 illustrates plots of temperature along a line drawn in the centre of geometry of storage tank (vertical line) for different time steps, thermocline set at 50% of tank height. The Fig.19 shows that the x-abscissa temperature along the y-co-ordinate that is distance from the bottom of the storage tank changes nears the thermocline. In this graph it can be seen very easily that the movement of thermocline is faster at the initial times. Just to have a better visualization Fig.20 shows a section of Fig.19.
50
51
53
Fig. 21: Case 02 Transient behavior of Temperature profile v/s height of tank.
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55
56
Fig. 23: Case 03 Transient behavior of Temperature profile v/s height of tank.
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58
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Fig. 26: Case 04 CFD calculated temperature profile at different heights of the tank.
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Fig. 27: Case 04 CFD calculated velocity profile at different heights of the tank.
Fig. 28: Case 04 Comparison plots of temperature profile at one hour interval.
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at the bottom of the tank decreases to 62. The temperature difference between tank top and the tank bottom increases to 10. After 24 hours from the start of simulation, the water temperature at the bottom of the tank decreased down to 38. Constant isothermal tank water gets gradually stratified with respect to time, as the cold water flows down along the tank wall. The heat loss of water from the walls of the uninsulated water tank gets settled down at the lower part of the tank. The validity of the CFD model for an initial condition a tank filled with water at constant temperature is investigated well and validated with the experimental and CFD results of Fan J. and Furbo S.
Fig. 30: Case 05 CFD calculated water temperatures in the tank with initially uniform temperature. 63
The tank is left to be cooled down with an ambient air temperature of 20. The initial temperature profile at the start of the measurement is as shown in Fig. 30. It can be seen that the CFD model predicts well the water temperature at different times very accurately.
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65
66
a)
67
= . . Where, h = Convective heat transfer co-efficient 20 w/m2 k A = Area of each layer in m2 = Average temperature difference of each layer in 0C T hot = Average hot water temperature in each layer T cold = Ambient atmospheric temperature 200C
(6)
( = )()()
()
(7)
For the top layer N, the heat loss moving from the layer above is replaced by the heat loss from the top of the tank. ( 1) = () Thermal stratification in the tank is characterized by a temperature gradient Gr(I). 68
()
(8)
= )(
()() ()()
(9)
Where Tlayer(I) is the average fluid temperature of layer I in k, while Hlayer(I) is the average height of layer I in m measured from the bottom of the tank. The heat loss removal factor a(I) is calculated for all the 9inter-layer surfaces and shown in Fig 35. for a cooling test starting with a uniform tank water temperature of 90. At 3 hours after the start, the temperature gradient, Gr(I) is very small for the most part of the tank,0.2-0.9K/m for the upper 7 inter-layer surfaces, showing that there is almost no thermal stratification at the middle and upper parts of the tank. At the lower part of the tank the temperature gradient, Gr(I) increases to 2.4 K/m and 16 K/m for the second and the first surface respectively, indicating thermal stratification at the lower part of the tank. The heat loss removal factor is greatly influenced by the temperature gradient at small values. a(I) is approximately 0.55, meaning is that 55% of the apparent heat loss of the layer placed above the surface plus the heat loss transferred from the upper parts of the tank to the layer placed above the surface is transferred down to the layer below the surface. At the lower part of the tank, the heat loss removal factor drops to 0.16 and 0.08 for the second and first surface respectively. It is the thermal stratification in the lower part of the tank that stops the cooled water from flowing downwards. The heat loss removal factor is calculated for different time steps and is shown in Fig.36. A tendency observed that the heat loss removal factor goes to a lower level at the lower part of the tank as the time goes. It happens due to the gradual cooling down of the tank and due to the thermal stratification established at the lower part of the tank. The heat exchange between layers by natural convection is shown in Fig.37. At the upper part of the tank the heat exchange between the layers is in the range of 4-16 W. as long as there is no thermal stratification, the heat transferred upwards is equal to or higher than the calculated heat loss from one layer (6-10.4 W from 1/10 of the tank side). While at the lower part of the tank the heat exchange is significantly reduced to a value smaller than 1 W. The heat exchange between layers for a stratified tank is given in Fig. 38. A heat exchange of 4-11 W can be observed at the upper part of the tank. The heat exchange decrease dramatically at the middle part of the tank when the temperature gradient increases from 10 to up to 130 K/m. The strong thermal stratification suppresses the buoyancy driven flow and therefore 69
reduces the heat exchange by natural convection to a value lower than 1 W. the heat exchange is in the range of (-0.15, 0.15) W at the lower part of the tank which could be due to disturbed flow of the water. The heat loss removal factor is calculated for all the surfaces at different time steps with a heat exchange higher than 1 W to obtain a good accuracy.
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Fig. 36: The influence of stratification on heat loss removal factor for cooling starting with a uniform temperature of 90 (case 05) .
Fig. 37: The heat exchange between layers versus temperature gradient in the tank for cooling with a uniform temperature of 90 (case 05)
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Fig. 38: The influence of stratification on heat loss removal factor for cooling in the stratified tank (case 04)
Fig. 39: The heat exchange between layers versus temperature gradient in the stratified tank (case 04)
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CHAPTER. 6. CONCLUSION
As reported in paper the thermocline at 50%of tank height is the best as far as the thermal efficiency of the storage tank is considered. Considering the same we had simulated movement of thermocline at 50% of tank height. The simulated results are extended beyond three hours to twenty four hours and later on for duration of one week. The simulated results shows that displacement of thermocline at initial times is more as compared to same in later time because of decrease in thermal gradient. Thermocline set at 80% of tank height and 20% of tank height mixes at less period of time than the thermocline set at 50% of tank height. Mixing and destratification is not the desired one but due heat transfer of hot and cold body it occurs. Always intention of SDHW tank is that tank should be thermally stratified for more time, which we can achieve by maintaining the tank initially thermally stratified at a height of 50% of the tank. Also it has been observed that if we can provide thermal insulation with no heat loss from the insulation then we can keep the tank at a worm water tank for more days even though destratification occurs inside the tank due to cold and hot water zone. The simulation has been done for 7days and destratification started but the cold water gets hotter as the temperature difference of cold and hot is more. The temperature of hot water is more so after 7days also the hot water temperature of 80 dominates at the top of the tank. While the initial cold water temperature of 20 is increased to 40. Still for a height of 0.1m there is water at a temp of 20. To convert the entire tank to a constant temperature throughout the tank further more simulations to be done. If the tank is not insulated at all and after receiving hot water from collector at a particular constant temperature below the boiling point temperature of water like 90, then the slight heat loss from the tank walls can be utilized to keep worming the room temperature during the winter season. The model tank which is at a constant water temperature of 90 and ambient temperature of 20 takes a week time to fully cools. The results show that the CFD calculations predict satisfactorily the water temperature in the tank during cooling of the tank. it is found that without the presence of a strong thermal stratification there is a buoyancy driven flow along the tank side walls due to heat loss of the tank and a corresponding upward flow in the central part of the tank. a heat loss removal factor is used to characterize the effect of the buoyancy driven flow on the heat exchange between layers by natural convection. It is observed that 20% to 50% of the side heat loss drops to layers which help to build up thermal stratification in the tank. 74
FUTURE SCOPE
The simulation can be carried out for more than 7days till a constant temperature is obtained in the tank. Also the same tank with some amount of heat loss from the insulation thickness can be considered and can be simulated to find actual values as hundred percent heat insulation tank making practically not possible. The tank with electric heater can also be simulated and the position and capacity of the heater can be optimized to keep the constant water temperature inside the tank. In case of uninsulated tank simulation can be done by considering optimum insulation thickness and some heat loss from the insulation material as 100% insulating material is not available only in case of software it is configured as a 100% insulation which is practically unavailable.
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