Numerical study of the thermal characteristics of a solar chimney for creating interior multi-climate zones

Abstract

In order to create the interior multi-climate zones suitable for plant cultivation in a solar chimney proposed for the World Horticultural Exposition 2016 in China, the numerical study is performed to investigate the interior thermal characteristics of a solar chimney with 2km radius and 1km height. The simulation methodology is validated by experimental data. Available heat from radiation, steel plant and underground water are taken as the sources for multi-climate zone generation. The interior thermal characteristics in summer season (SS) and winter season (WS) scenarios are predicted to evaluate the impacts of inlet height and radius. It is found the temperature increment is around 6t and 17t for SS and WS with 3.8m inlet height. The air velocity in SS is much larger than WS. The decrease of the inlet height from 3.8m to 0.5m has minimal impact for interior thermal field. However, further decrease to 0.2m brings less air flow rate and higher temperature. The temperature field remains almost the same when the radius of solar chimney decreases from 2.0km to 1.725km. Further decrease to 1.13km results in much lower temperature. The current numerical analysis can provide preliminary suggestions for the plant cultivation in the solar chimney.