Effect of Divergent Chimneys on the Performance of a Solar Chimney Power Plant

This paper numerically examined the performance of divergent chimneys in solar chimney power plants with two shape-controlling parameters, that is, the area ratio of the chimney exit over the entrance and the divergent angle. Compared with the conventional cylindrical chimneys, a higher power output in the divergent-chimney system could be achieved. This enhancement effect, however, increased first and then declined with increasing the area ratio or the divergent angle. Furthermore, subsequent parametric studies indicated that the area ratio and the divergent angle have different impacts on this enhancement effect: the area ratio may dominate the strength of the enhancement effect while the divergent angle may dominate the change rate of the enhancement effect along the varying shape-controlling parameters.