Numerical modeling and analysis of dual medium thermocline thermal energy storage

The Taguchi method is used to optimize the design parameters of the thermocline thermal energy storage system. Its performance is evaluated by performing numerical simulations based on a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. In this study, the effects of the variations in parameters such as the inlet fluid Reynolds number, aspect ratio, porosity, and filler size, on the storage performance are also evaluated. The optimal condition and geometry of the thermocline thermal energy storage system are determined by the CFD-Taguchi combined method. The analysis results indicate that the porosity and aspect ratio are the most important design parameters for thermocline thermal energy storage.