Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles

Thermal energy storage using packed beds of crushed rocks finds application in solar thermal power generation, building thermal comfort, and greenhouse climate control. Crushed rock particles are irregular in shape and size, but notwithstanding have a clearly discerning long, intermediate, and short...

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Main Authors: Jaap Hoffmann, Eduard Fourie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TIB Open Publishing 2025-07-01
Series:SolarPACES Conference Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tib-op.org/ojs/index.php/solarpaces/article/view/755
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author Jaap Hoffmann
Eduard Fourie
author_facet Jaap Hoffmann
Eduard Fourie
author_sort Jaap Hoffmann
collection DOAJ
description Thermal energy storage using packed beds of crushed rocks finds application in solar thermal power generation, building thermal comfort, and greenhouse climate control. Crushed rock particles are irregular in shape and size, but notwithstanding have a clearly discerning long, intermediate, and short axis. Consequently, particles tend to pack down with their short axis facing upwards. As a result, the flow resistance and heat transfer characteristics in a packed bed depend on the flow direction relative to particle orientation. For small applications, the flow through a packed bed is typically one-dimensional, and one may rely on empirical correlations for design purposes. In this work, we propose that tortuosity is included in the heat transfer and pressure drop correlations. We derived our correlations from a combination of discrete element modeling (DEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and verified our results experimentally.
format Article
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher TIB Open Publishing
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series SolarPACES Conference Proceedings
spelling doaj-art-70f06d08e4d1468cb11e8e9edfb09da12025-08-20T03:12:56ZengTIB Open PublishingSolarPACES Conference Proceedings2751-98992025-07-01210.52825/solarpaces.v2i.755Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock ParticlesJaap Hoffmann0Eduard Fourie1Stellenbosch UniversityStellenbosch UniversityThermal energy storage using packed beds of crushed rocks finds application in solar thermal power generation, building thermal comfort, and greenhouse climate control. Crushed rock particles are irregular in shape and size, but notwithstanding have a clearly discerning long, intermediate, and short axis. Consequently, particles tend to pack down with their short axis facing upwards. As a result, the flow resistance and heat transfer characteristics in a packed bed depend on the flow direction relative to particle orientation. For small applications, the flow through a packed bed is typically one-dimensional, and one may rely on empirical correlations for design purposes. In this work, we propose that tortuosity is included in the heat transfer and pressure drop correlations. We derived our correlations from a combination of discrete element modeling (DEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and verified our results experimentally. https://www.tib-op.org/ojs/index.php/solarpaces/article/view/755Packed BedCrushed RocksThermal Energy Storage
spellingShingle Jaap Hoffmann
Eduard Fourie
Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles
SolarPACES Conference Proceedings
Packed Bed
Crushed Rocks
Thermal Energy Storage
title Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles
title_full Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles
title_fullStr Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles
title_full_unstemmed Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles
title_short Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Packed Beds of Crushed Rock Particles
title_sort heat transfer and pressure drop in packed beds of crushed rock particles
topic Packed Bed
Crushed Rocks
Thermal Energy Storage
url https://www.tib-op.org/ojs/index.php/solarpaces/article/view/755
work_keys_str_mv AT jaaphoffmann heattransferandpressuredropinpackedbedsofcrushedrockparticles
AT eduardfourie heattransferandpressuredropinpackedbedsofcrushedrockparticles