{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/52572"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/52572","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Exploring Alternative Designs for Solar Chimneys using Computational Fluid Dynamics","abstract":"Solar chimney power plants use the buoyancy-nature of heated air to harness the Sun's energy without using solar panels. The flow is driven by a pressure difference in the chimney system, so traditional chimneys are extremely tall to increase the pressure differential and the air's velocity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model the airflow through a solar chimney. Different boundary conditions were tested to find the best model that simulated the night-time operation of a solar chimney assumed to be in sub-Saharan Africa. At night, the air is heated by the energy that was stored in the ground during the day dispersing into the cooler air. It is necessary to model a solar chimney with layer of thermal storage as a porous material for FLUENT to correctly calculate the heat transfer between the ground and the air. The solar collector needs to have radiative and convective boundary conditions to accurately simulate the night-time heat transfer on the collector. To correctly calculate the heat transfer in the system, it is necessary to employ the Discrete Ordinates radiation model. Different chimney configurations were studied with the hopes of designing a shorter solar chimney without decreases the amount of airflow through the system. Clusters of four and five shorter chimneys decreased the air's maximum velocity through the system, but increased the total flow rate. Passive advections wells were added to the thermal storage and were analyzed as a way to increase the heat transfer from the ground to the air.","abstract_html":"Solar chimney power plants use the buoyancy-nature of heated air to harness the Sun's energy without using solar panels. The flow is driven by a pressure difference in the chimney system, so traditional chimneys are extremely tall to increase the pressure differential and the air's velocity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model the airflow through a solar chimney. Different boundary conditions were tested to find the best model that simulated the night-time operation of a solar chimney assumed to be in sub-Saharan Africa. At night, the air is heated by the energy that was stored in the ground during the day dispersing into the cooler air. It is necessary to model a solar chimney with layer of thermal storage as a porous material for FLUENT to correctly calculate the heat transfer between the ground and the air. The solar collector needs to have radiative and convective boundary conditions to accurately simulate the night-time heat transfer on the collector. To correctly calculate the heat transfer in the system, it is necessary to employ the Discrete Ordinates radiation model. Different chimney configurations were studied with the hopes of designing a shorter solar chimney without decreases the amount of airflow through the system. Clusters of four and five shorter chimneys decreased the air's maximum velocity through the system, but increased the total flow rate. Passive advections wells were added to the thermal storage and were analyzed as a way to increase the heat transfer from the ground to the air.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Heisler, Elizabeth Marie"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":"Mechanical Engineering","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Battaglia, Francine"],"committee_members":["Huxtable, Scott T.","Paul, Mark R."],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-10-08","date_published":"2014-10-08","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:32Z","subjects":["Computational fluid dynamics","Solar Chimney","Buoyancy-Driven Flow","Natural Convection"],"languages":[],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:3845"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:3845","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/52572","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Battaglia, Francine"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Huxtable, Scott T.","Paul, Mark R."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Heisler, Elizabeth Marie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2015-05-23T08:06:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-05-23T08:06:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2014-10-08"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Computational fluid dynamics","Solar Chimney","Buoyancy-Driven Flow","Natural Convection"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:3845"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/52572"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Solar chimney power plants use the buoyancy-nature of heated air to harness the Sun's energy without using solar panels. The flow is driven by a pressure difference in the chimney system, so traditional chimneys are extremely tall to increase the pressure differential and the air's velocity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model the airflow through a solar chimney. Different boundary conditions were tested to find the best model that simulated the night-time operation of a solar chimney assumed to be in sub-Saharan Africa. At night, the air is heated by the energy that was stored in the ground during the day dispersing into the cooler air. It is necessary to model a solar chimney with layer of thermal storage as a porous material for FLUENT to correctly calculate the heat transfer between the ground and the air. The solar collector needs to have radiative and convective boundary conditions to accurately simulate the night-time heat transfer on the collector. To correctly calculate the heat transfer in the system, it is necessary to employ the Discrete Ordinates radiation model. Different chimney configurations were studied with the hopes of designing a shorter solar chimney without decreases the amount of airflow through the system. Clusters of four and five shorter chimneys decreased the air's maximum velocity through the system, but increased the total flow rate. Passive advections wells were added to the thermal storage and were analyzed as a way to increase the heat transfer from the ground to the air."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Exploring Alternative Designs for Solar Chimneys using Computational Fluid Dynamics"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Battaglia, Francine"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Huxtable, Scott T.","Paul, Mark R."],"dc:contributor.department":["Mechanical Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Heisler, Elizabeth Marie"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2015-05-23T08:06:48Z"],"dc:date.available":["2015-05-23T08:06:48Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2014-10-08"],"dc:description.abstract":["Solar chimney power plants use the buoyancy-nature of heated air to harness the Sun's energy without using solar panels. The flow is driven by a pressure difference in the chimney system, so traditional chimneys are extremely tall to increase the pressure differential and the air's velocity. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to model the airflow through a solar chimney. Different boundary conditions were tested to find the best model that simulated the night-time operation of a solar chimney assumed to be in sub-Saharan Africa. At night, the air is heated by the energy that was stored in the ground during the day dispersing into the cooler air. It is necessary to model a solar chimney with layer of thermal storage as a porous material for FLUENT to correctly calculate the heat transfer between the ground and the air. The solar collector needs to have radiative and convective boundary conditions to accurately simulate the night-time heat transfer on the collector. To correctly calculate the heat transfer in the system, it is necessary to employ the Discrete Ordinates radiation model. Different chimney configurations were studied with the hopes of designing a shorter solar chimney without decreases the amount of airflow through the system. Clusters of four and five shorter chimneys decreased the air's maximum velocity through the system, but increased the total flow rate. Passive advections wells were added to the thermal storage and were analyzed as a way to increase the heat transfer from the ground to the air."],"dc:description.degree":["Master of Science"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:3845"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/52572"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Computational fluid dynamics","Solar Chimney","Buoyancy-Driven Flow","Natural Convection"],"dc:title":["Exploring Alternative Designs for Solar Chimneys using Computational Fluid Dynamics"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Mechanical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:32Z"}