Numerical Study of Inclination Effect on a Flat-Place Direct Absorption With Water-Nanofluid Mixtures in Summer and Winter Conditions

Abstract

In this work, a computational study on two-dimensional forced convection inside a volumetric solar collector based on a nanofluid with water and nanocarbon horns is carried out in steady state regime. A surface heat transfer from the upper wall of the solar collector toward the external ambient is present. The analysis is accomplished with governing equations assuming the single-phase flow model for the nanofluid mixture. The evaluation of heat transfer in the participating media due to the local absorption of nanoparticles is obtained employing the non-grey discrete ordinates method. The finite volume method is employed to find the solution and the simulations are obtained using ANSYS-FLUENT code. The analysis is accomplished to estimate the solar collector behaviors as a function of the inclination angle under different conditions in summer and winter regimes for residential use site in Aversa (Italy). The analysis allows to evaluate the thermal and fluid dynamic behaviors of the solar collector with an inclination angle from 0 to 90 degrees. Temperature and velocity profiles as well as temperature fields inside the channel are reported for different inclination angles, solar radiations and nanoparticle volumetric concentrations.