Numerical investigation of the effect of rectangular and semicircular cavities filled with phase change materials installed on the solar wall

Jawed Mustafa, Saeed Alqaed, Fahad Awjah Almehmadi, Shahid Husain, Basharat Jamil, Mohsen Sharifpur

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The use of alternative energy sources, particularly solar energy, in buildings is rising and spreading around the globe. In this paper, a solar wall is analyzed using a numerical method. On the wall, a number of obstacles are placed in two shapes, rectangular (REC) and semicircular (SEC). The cavities are filled with organic phase-change materials. This study was performed in 7 h in the absence of solar radiation on the wall for different dimensions of obstacles in 5 different modes. Various temperatures have been investigated, including exhaust air temperature (TAR), Trombe wall temperature (TWL), and mean volume % of molten PCM in cavities. COMSOL software is used to carry out this numerical study. The results of this study showed that the use of SECs compared to RECs causes the TWL to be higher. In the most extreme case, at a 16 cm aspect ratio, the use of SECs gives a 2.1 °C increase in TWL relative to the REC one. The outlet TAR is also increased by the usage of SECs. The use of larger dimensions of the cavities has increased the TAR leaving the wall so that the TAR after 7 h of the absence of solar radiation, in the most significant case of SECs, was more than 295.5 K. The use of SECs also increases the PCM freezing time. In the largest case of cavities, using SECs increases the freezing time by 15 min compared to RECs.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)46417-46446
Number of pages30
JournalEnvironmental Science and Pollution Research
Volume31
Issue number34
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Building
  • Numerical method
  • Phase change materials
  • Solar energy

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