Pairing Directional Solar Inputs From Ray Tracing to Solar Receiver/Reactor Heat Transfer Models on Unstructured Meshes: Development and Case Studies

Bush, H. Evan; Schrader, Andrew J.; Loutzenhiser, Peter G.

doi:10.1115/1.4048563

Pairing Directional Solar Inputs From Ray Tracing to Solar Receiver/Reactor Heat Transfer Models on Unstructured Meshes: Development and Case Studies

Journal Article · Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Solar Energy Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4048563· OSTI ID:1670763

Bush, H. Evan ^[1]; Schrader, Andrew J. ^[1]; Loutzenhiser, Peter G. ^[1]

Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

A novel method for pairing surface irradiation and volumetric absorption from Monte Carlo ray tracing to computational heat transfer models is presented. The method is well-suited to directionally and spatially complex concentrated radiative inputs (e.g., solar receivers and reactors). The method employs a generalized algorithm for directly mapping absorbed rays from a Monte Carlo ray tracing model to boundary or volumetric source terms in the computational mesh. The algorithm is compatible with unstructured, two and three-dimensional meshes with varying element shapes. Four case studies were performed on a directly irradiated, windowed solar thermochemical reactor model to validate the method. The method was shown to conserve energy and preserve spatial variation when mapping rays from a Monte Carlo ray tracing model to a computational heat transfer model in ansys fluent.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1670763

Report Number(s):: SAND2020--7653J; 687627

Journal Information:: Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Journal Name: Journal of Solar Energy Engineering Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 143; ISSN 0199-6231

Publisher:: ASMECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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