Experimental Granular Flow of Multiple Particle Types for Concentrated Solar Power Applications to Improve State of the Art Modeling Capability

Date of Award

12-1-2023

Degree Name

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Department

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Advisor/Chair

Advisor: Andrew Schrader

Abstract

Particle systems for concentrating solar applications present a non-trival challenge to adequately model with DEM software. A compiled modeling suite for radiative exchange, coined DEM+, is directly integrated into commercial software Aspherix®. A presentation of this modeling suite, advantages, and disadvantages is followed by an expanded look at the Distance Based Approximation (DBA) method for estimating particle-particle and particle-wall radiative exchange of more realistic particle size distributions and some simple binary mixtures. In addition, design, operation, and preliminary experimental results for a lab-scale multi-stage falling particle curtain are evaluated with particle image velocimetry (PIV) from two perspectives with discussion of the challenges therein. A room temperature DEM model of investigated particles is compared to experimental results with emphasis on future work for material calibration for DEM+.

Keywords

Concentrated Solar Power, CSP, Discrete Element Method Modeling, DEM, Particles, Falling Particle Curtain, Granular Media, DEM+, Radiative Exchange, Heat Transfer, Monte Carlo Ray Tracing, Volumetric Monte Carlo Ray Tracing, Ray Tracing

Rights Statement

Copyright © 2023, author.

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