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This paper aims to present the numerical models and experimental outcomes pertain to the performance of the parabolic dish concentrator system with a modified cavity-type receiver (hemispherical-shaped).

The numerical models were evolved based on two types of boundary conditions; isothermal receiver surface and non-isothermal receiver surface. For validation of the numerical models with experimental results, three statistical terms were used: mean of absolute deviation, R² and root mean square error.

The thermal efficiency of the receiver values obtained using the numerical model with a non-isothermal receiver surface found agreeing well with experimental results. The numerical model with non-isothermal surface boundary condition exhibited more accurate results as compared to that with isothermal surface boundary condition. The receiver heat loss analysis based on the experimental outcomes is also carried out to estimate the contributions of various modes of heat transfer. The losses by radiation, convection and conduction contribute about 27.47%, 70.89% and 1.83%, in the total receiver loss, respectively.

An empirical correlation based on experimental data is also presented to anticipate the effect of studied parameters on the receiver collection efficiency. The anticipations may help to adopt the technology for practical use.

The developed models would help to design and anticipating the performance of the dish concentrator system with a modified cavity receiver that may be used for applications e.g. power generation, water heating, air-conditioning, solar cooking, solar drying, energy storage, etc.

The originality of this manuscript comprising presenting a differential-mathematical analysis/modeling of hemispherical shaped modified cavity receiver with non-uniform surface temperature boundary condition. It can estimate the variation of temperature of heat transfer fluid (water) along with the receiver height, by taking into account the receiver cavity losses by means of radiation and convection modes. The model also considers the radiative heat exchange among the internal ring-surface elements of the cavity.

This paper aims to deal with characterisation of the thermal performance of a hybrid tubular and cavity solar thermal receiver.

The coupled optical-flow-thermal analysis is carried out on the proposed receiver design. Modelling is performed in two and three dimensions for estimating heat loss by natural convection for an upward-facing cavity. Heat loss obtained in two dimensions by solving coupled continuity, momentum and energy equation inside the cavity domain is compared with the loss obtained using an established Nusselt number correlation for realistic receiver performance prediction.

It is found that radiation emission from a heated cavity wall to the ambient is the dominant mode of heat loss from the receiver. The findings recommend that fluid flow path must be designed adjacent to the surface exposed to irradiation of concentrated flux to limit conduction heat loss.

On-sun experimental tests need to be performed to validate the numerical study.

Numerical analysis of receivers provides guidelines for effective and efficient solar thermal receiver design.

Pressurised air receivers designed from this method can be integrated with Brayton cycles using air or supercritical carbon-dioxide to run a turbine generating electricity using a solar heat source.

The present paper proposes a novel method for coupling the flux map from ray-tracing analysis and using it as a heat flux boundary condition for performing coupled flow and heat transfer analysis. This is achieved using affine transformation implemented using extrusion coupling tool from COMSOL Multiphysics software package. Cavity surface natural convection heat transfer coefficient is obtained locally based on the surface temperature distribution.

This paper aims to present experimental work examining the effect of opening size on the collection efficiency of cavity-type receiver geometries, e.g. modified cavity and spherical cavity with single- as well as dual-stage water heating. The correlations, obtained using the experimentally obtained data, are helpful in designing of cavity receivers (modified and spherical geometry type) to be used in solar-power harnessing assignments/projects, for yielding better system performance.

The parameters of study encompass receiver opening or aperture ratios (d/D, ratio of diameter of opening to the maximum diameter of spherical cavity) of 0.4, 0.47, 0.533 and 0.6; flow Reynolds numbers of 938, 1,175, 1,525 and 1,880 with water as a coolant; and receiver inclination angles of 90, 60, 45 and 30° (with 90° as receiver-opening facing downward and 30° as receiver-aperture facing closer to sideway). A modified cavity receiver was examined for opening ratios of 0.46, 0.6, 0.7 and 0.93. The glass covers, with thickness 2, 4 and 6 mm, were positioned at the opening of cavity to mitigate the energy losses.

The experiments have been conducted at a lesser incoming radiative heat flux, for receiver cavity wall surface temperatures ranging from 90°C to 180°C. The collection efficiency values of both the receivers, modified cavity and spherical cavity types, are seen increasing with coolant flow rate and receiver tilt (inclination) angles, i.e. 30° → 90°. The collection efficiency exhibits maxima at an opening ratio of 0.533 in case of both single- and double-stage spherical cavity receiver. This value was observed as 0.6 for modified cavity receiver. The mathematical correlations developed for obtaining the collection efficiency values of modified cavity-type receiver, spherical cavity receiver with single stage and spherical cavity receiver with dual-stage water heating are given as ɳ=0.4667 Re0.0798dD0.1651 δ0.0281θ̇−0.011, ɳ=0.2317 Re0.124 dD1.265δ0.0192θ̇0.2914 and ɳ=0.1137 Re0.1715dD0.8702θ̇0.2757, respectively.

The findings of the paper may be helpful in erecting concentrating solar collector systems for household water heating, concentrating solar-based power generation as well as for various agricultural applications.

The experimental investigations are fewer in the literature examining the combined geometrical influence on the efficiency of cavity receivers with single- and double-stage water heating provisions.

This paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied to the analysis of ceramics and glass materials. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations on the subject that were published between 1977‐1998. The following topics are included: ceramics – material and mechanical properties in general, ceramic coatings and joining problems, ceramic composites, ferrites, piezoceramics, ceramic tools and machining, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, applications of ceramic/composites in engineering; glass – material and mechanical properties in general, glass fiber composites, material processing simulations, fracture mechanics and damage, and applications of glasses in engineering.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the unsteady natural convection flow of a viscous incompressible fluid, which is induced by differential heating on the solid vertical boundary of an open‐ended rectangular cavity with the two horizontal surfaces which are permeable and maintained at the temperature of ambient fluid. Attention is focused on how the flow and heat transfer is affected by variations of the buoyancy force, as well as by the permeability of the surfaces.

An upwind finite‐difference method in conjunction with a successive over‐relaxation iteration technique is used to solve the governing boundary layer equations. To do this, the first and second derivatives were approximated by central differences and were used in the vorticity, energy and Poisson equations. To preserve the conservative property, the finite‐difference forms of the vorticity and energy equations were written in conservative form for the convective terms.

Local rate of heat transfer from the heated surface increases owing to an increase in the value of Ra. In the region near the bottom surface, the heat transfer from the left vertical surface decreases, but that increases in the region near the upper surface. Due to blowing of fluid through the permeable surfaces, the rate of heat transfer is higher than the situation where fluid is being withdrawn. This difference was found to be higher in the case of larger value of Ra.

The analysis is valid for unsteady, two‐dimensional natural convection flow of a viscous fluid filled in an open‐ended rectangular enclosure. An extension to three‐dimensional flow case is left for future work.

The method is very useful to analyze solar receiver systems, fire research, electronic cooling, brake housing of an aircraft and many environmental geothermal processes.

The results of this study may be of some interest to engineers interested in heat transfer in ventilated rooms or enclosures.

This paper aims to develop a numerical study of the steady natural convection in an inclined square porous cavity filled by a nanofluid with sinusoidal temperature distribution on the side walls and adiabatic conditions on the upper and lower walls.

Governing equations transformed in terms of the dimensionless variables using the Darcy–Boussinesq approximation have been solved numerically using a central finite-difference scheme. The Gaus-Siedel iteration technique was used for the system of discretized equations. The two-phase nanofluid model including the Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis effects has been considered for simulation of nanofluid transport inside the cavity.

The numerical results of streamlines, isotherms and isoconcentrations are investigated and the effect of different important parameters, such as inclination angle of the cavity, amplitude ratio of the sinusoidal temperature or phase deviation, is discussed. The results obtained for no inclination of the cavity are compared and successfully validated with previous reported results of the literature. The important findings of the study are focused on the changes made by the inclination angle and the periodic thermal boundary conditions, on the heat and fluid flow.

The originality of the present study is given by the mathematical model presented for an inclined cavity, the numerical solution with new results for inclined cavity and the applications for design of solar energy devices such as solar collectors in which the boundary conditions vary with time because of changes in weather conditions.

A numerical simulation of the fully developed forced convection in a circular duct partly filled with a fluid saturated porous medium is presented. The Brinkman‐Forchheimer‐extended Darcy equation is used to describe the fluid flow in the porous region. The energy equation for the porous region accounts for the effect of thermal dispersion. The dependence of the Nusselt number on a number of parameters, such as the Reynolds number, the Darcy number, the Forchheimer coefficient, as well as the thickness of the porous region is investigated. The numerical results obtained in this research are in agreement with published experimental data.

The study aims to investigate magnetohydrodynamics thermal convection energy transference and entropy production in an open chamber saturated with ferrofluid having an isothermal solid block.

Analysis of thermal convection phenomenon was performed for an open chamber saturated with a nanofluid having an isothermal solid unit placed inside the cavity with various aspect ratios. The left border temperature is kept at T_c. An external cooled nanofluid of fixed temperature T_c penetrates into the domain from the right open border. The nanofluid circulation is Newtonian, incompressible, and laminar. The uniform magnetic field of strength B at the tilted angle of γ is applied. The finite volume technique is used to work out the non-linear equations of liquid motion and energy transport. For Rayleigh number (Ra=1e+7), numerical simulations were executed for varying the solid volume fractions of the nanofluid (ϕ = 0.01–0.04), the aspect ratios of a solid body (A_s = 0.25–4), the Hartmann number (Ha = 0–100), the magnetic influence inclination angle (γ = 0–π/2) and the non-dimensional temperature drop (Ω = 0.001–0.1) on the liquid motion, heat transference and entropy production.

Numerical outcomes are demonstrated by using isolines of temperature and stream function, profiles of mean Nusselt number and entropy generations. The results indicate that the entropy generation rate and mean Nu can be decreased with an increase in Ha. The inner solid block of A_s = 0.25 reflects the maximum heat transfer rate in comparison with other considered blocks. The addition of nano-sized particles results in a growth of energy transport and mean entropy generations.

An efficient computational technique has been developed to solve natural convection problem for an open chamber. The originality of this research is to scrutinize the convective transport and entropy production in an open domain with inner body. The outcomes would benefit scientists and engineers to become familiar with the investigation of convective energy transference and entropy generation in open chambers with inner bodies, and the way to predict the energy transference strength in the advanced engineering systems.

A numerical analysis is given for the prediction of unsteady, two‐dimensional fluid flow induced by a heat and mass source in an initially closed cavity which is vented when the internal overpressure reaches a certain level. A modified ICE technique is used for solving the Navier–Stokes equations governing a compressible flow at a low Mach number and high temperature. Particular attention is focused on the treatment of the boundary conditions on the vent surface. This has been treated by an original procedure using the resolution of a Riemann problem. The configuration investigated may be viewed as a test problem which allows simulation of the ventilation and cooling of such cavities. The injection of hot gases is found to play a key role on the temperature field in the enclosure, whereas the vent seems to produce a distortion of the dynamic flow‐field only. When the injection of hot gases is stopped, the enclosure heat transfer is strongly influenced by the vent. A comparison with the results obtained when the radiative heat transfer between the walls of the enclosure is considered, indicate that radiation dominates the heat transfer in the enclosure and alters the flow patterns significantly.

Magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) flows in fluids is known to have an important effect on heat transfer and fluid flow in various substances while the quality of the substances and the considered shapes can influence the amount of changes. Thus, MHD flows in a different form and widespread alterations in the kind of the material and the power of MHD flow were carried out by lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in this investigation. The aim of this paper is to identify the ability of LBM for solving MHD flows as the effect of different substances in the presence of the magnetic field changes.

This method was utilized for solving MHD natural convection in an open cavity while Hartmann number varies from 0 to 150 and Rayleigh number is considered at values of Ra=10³, 10⁴ and 10⁵, with the Prandtl number altering in a wide range of Pr=0.025, 0.71 and 6.2. An appropriate validation with previous numerical investigations demonstrated that this attitude is a suitable method for MHD problems.

Results show the alterations of Prandtl numbers influence the isotherms and the streamlines widely at different Rayleigh and Hartmann numbers simultaneously. Moreover, heat transfer declines with the increment of Hartmann number, while this reduction is marginal for Ra=10³ by comparison with other Rayleigh numbers. The effect of the magnetic field on the average Nusselt number at Liquid Gallium (Pr=0.025) is the least among considered materials.

In this method, just the force term at LBM changes in the presence of MHD flow as the added term rises from the classic equations of fluids mechanic. Moreover, all parameters of the added term and the method of their computing are exhibited.