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Water Desalination in Solar Earth Stills: A Numerical Study
Author(s) -
Avissar R.,
Mahrer Y.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr022i007p01067
Subject(s) - solar still , environmental science , desalination , water table , homogeneous , solar desalination , thermal , humidity , low temperature thermal desalination , hydrology (agriculture) , relative humidity , table (database) , groundwater , soil science , environmental engineering , meteorology , geology , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , geography , combinatorics , membrane , computer science , data mining , genetics , biology
To simulate water desalination in solar earth stills, we developed a numerical one‐dimensional model, which considers four layers: cover, soil, enclosed, and external air. The soil layer is divided into thin homogeneous sublayers, whose thermal and hydraulic properties are computed, during the simulation, by taking into account their temperature and humidity. Given adequate photometric properties, any covering material can be simulated. The model was experimentally verified and applied to two different climatological regions in Israel, examining the influence of water table depth on the amount of collected fresh water in two different types of solar earth stills. The model is able to predict accurately the amount of drinking water collected in a solar earth still. This method of water desalination is applicable in regions where the water table is near the soil surface.