Numerical study of heat transfer by natural convection and surface thermal radiation in an open cavity receiver

In this work the numerical results of natural convection and surface thermal radiation in an open cavity receiver considering large temperature differences and variable fluid properties are presented. Numerical calculations were conducted for Rayleigh number (Ra) values in the range of 104–106. The temperature difference between the hot wall and the bulk fluid (ΔT) was varied between 100 and 400 K, and was represented as a dimensionless temperature difference (φ) for the purpose of generalization of the trends observed. Noticeable differences are observed between the streamlines and temperature fields obtained for φ = 1.333 (ΔT = 400 K) and φ = 0.333 (ΔT = 100 K). The total average Nusselt number in the cavity increased by 79.8% (Ra = 106) and 88.0% (Ra = 104) as φ was varied from 0.333 to 1.333. Furthermore the results indicate that for large temperature differences (0.667 ⩽ φ ⩽ 1.333) the radiative heat transfer is more important that convective heat transfer.

► Numerical study of heat losses in an open cavity receiver.
► Coupled natural convection and thermal radiation.
► Fluid properties are dependent of temperature.
► Temperature differences between 100 K and 400 K.