Open AccessA porous medium based heat transfer and fluid flow model for thermal energy storage in packed rock beds
Author(s) -
Leyla Amiri,
Seyed Ali GhoreishiMadiseh,
Agus P. Sasmito,
Ferri Hassani
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012100
Subject(s) - packed bed , thermal energy storage , porous medium , heat transfer , pressure drop , porosity , permeability (electromagnetism) , energy storage , heat exchanger , mass transfer , fluid dynamics , environmental science , thermal , materials science , working fluid , petroleum engineering , geotechnical engineering , geology , mechanics , thermodynamics , mechanical engineering , chemistry , engineering , chemical engineering , power (physics) , membrane , biochemistry , physics
Thermal energy storage in packed rock beds helps to reduce energy costs and carbon footprint’s on an industrial, commercial and residential scale. Fluid flow and heat transfer in large-size packed rock beds used in mining applications such as heating/cooling of mine intake air or ventilation of block-caved mines have recently received significant attention. Understanding the porous structure of such packed rock beds is a necessity in the design of such systems. The pressure drop across a rock bed directly affects its heat exchange performance, as it requires additional fan power to circulate air during periods of storage/extraction. In this study, the fluid flow behavior inside a packed rock bed thermal energy storage system is investigated by developing a computational fluid dynamics model and a heat transfer model. The model offers useful information for evaluating the performance of rock beds packed with large rocks or in caved zones. Finally, the main goal of this study is to perform a practical energy saving analysis for porous media composed of large particles by changing the physical properties of the porous medium, such as porosity and permeability. The findings of this study also show that while the total thermal energy storage capacity of the system is not significantly affected by the mass flow rate, a lower mass flow rate can provide a longer working period for thermal energy storage systems.