THERMAL AND FLUID DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF A SOLAR CHIMNEY INTEGRATED IN A BUILDING FAÇADE

A solar chimney employs solar radiation to raise the temperature of the air and the buoyancy of warm air to accelerate the air stream flowing through the channel. By converting thermal energy into the kinetic energy of air movement, solar chimneys have a number of different applications such as ventilation, passive solar heating and cooling of buildings, solar energy drying and power generation. In this paper, a numerical investigation on a prototypal solar chimney system integrated in a south facade of a building is presented. The chimney is 50.0 m high, 10.0 m wide whereas the channel thickness is 2.0 m for the vertical parallel walls configuration. The analysis is carried out on a three-dimensional model and the governing equations are given in terms of k-ε turbulence model. The problem is solved by means of the commercial code Ansys-Fluent®. The numerical analysis is intended to examine the effect of the solar chimney’s inclination. Further, an evaluation of the effect of solar irradiance during the day is examined and discussed. Results are given in terms of wall temperature distributions, air velocity and temperature fields and transversal profiles. The analysis is carried out in transient regime. Thermal and fluid dynamic behaviors are evaluated in order to have some indications to enhance energy conversion.