Solar pond salt gradient instability prediction by means of a thermo-hydrodynamic computer code

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981 · Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5745443

Hull, J R; Liu, K V; Cha, Y S; Domanus, H M; Sha, W T

Results are presented of a numerical simulation of convective instability in solar ponds using a modified version of COMMIX, a transient, three-dimensional, thermo-hydraulic computer code. The simulation is for the ideal case of a fluid slab that is stratified by salt and heated from below, with initially constant salinity and temperature gradients. Exact results are calculated using linear stability theory and provide the predicted behavior that the simulation should match. Oscillations calculated by the exact theory show a remarkable similarity to microstructure temperature oscillations observed in several solar ponds. The computer simulation predicts conditions of stability with fair accuracy and displays oscillations of the correct form. The accuracy of the quantitative results appears to be limited by numerical diffusion.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5745443
• Report Number(s): CONF-810509-(Vol.1)
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proc. Annu. Meet. - Am. Sect. Int. Sol. Energy Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 4.1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
C CODES
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
EQUIPMENT
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OSCILLATIONS
PONDS
SALINITY GRADIENTS
SIMULATION
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR PONDS
STABILITY
SURFACE WATERS
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION