Numerical Study of the Transient Cooling Process of Water Storage Tanks under Heat Losses to the Environment

Abstract

The unsteady laminar heat transfer and fluid flow phenomena inside a water storage tank during its static mode of operation and submitted to heat losses to the environment has been investigated by means of CFD and heat transfer numerical simulations. A parametric study has been carried out considering several situations and varying the aspect ratio, insulation thickness, initial temperature, and tank volume. In order to characterize the cooling process, a nondimensional analysis has been performed. From the analysis of the results of several detailed numerical simulations, correlations for the Nusselt number at the lateral, top, and bottom walls have been obtained. The verification of the mathematical model assumed, together with the verification and validation of the results, have also been pointed out.

This work has been financially supported by Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Secretaria de Estado de Universidades e Investigación, Spain (project ENE2007-67185).

Notes

For temperature levels I and II the correlation is given by zones.

Cumulative heat losses predicted at top, bottom, and lateral walls. Comparison with numerical results.