Numerical heat transfer and fluid flow within a salt gradient pond

Abstract

Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Turkey, 19-21 July, 2010.

This paper reports a parametric study of a salt gradient pond. Transfers in a rectangular cavity, translating thermal phenomenon in a pond, are numerically predicted by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in transient regime. The pond is filled with water, and divided into three zones with different salinity. The heating of the pond is made by a serpentine which covers its bottom. The purpose of this numerical study is to give a good knowledge of the thermal characteristics, to optimize working parameters of the ponds. The parameters considered include the pond length and the lower convective zone (LCZ) thickness. The Navier-Stokes, energy and mass equations are discredized using finite volume method, and a two-dimensional analysis of the thermal behaviour induced in the cavity is performed. It has been found that, an optimal choice of the pond dimensions can improve the performance of energy storage. This study shows also the importance of the salinity in the preservation of the high temperature in the bottom of the pond, and the important reduction of the phenomenon of thermal transfer by convection in the non convective zone (NCZ).