Numerical analysis on heat transfer of parabolic solar collector operating with nanofluid using Eulerian two-phase approach

Abstract

Parabolic trough solar collector (PTSC) is an effective solar harvesting system that can be combined to various systems with different working fluids. This research presents a novel investigation on a PTSC system in which nanofluids are used to transfer heat energy. CFD analysis is performed according to FVM method to complement the study. Syltherm 800 oil is used as the main operating fluid augmented with CuO nanoparticles to investigate thermal and hydrodynamic behaviors of the solar system comprehensively. To simulate the nanofluid the two-phase model and the single phase approach are applied. The results indicate that increasing the nanofluid volume concentration improves the coefficient of heat transfer, performance evaluation criteria and the collector thermal efficiency.