The impact of placing obstacles on the distribution of the airflow inside a solar chimney

Abstract Solar energy sources are alternative solutions to creating energy by the use of solar radiation. The solar chimney power plants (SCPPs) are non‐concentrated thermal systems that use the solar radiation to produce green energy. The main components of an SCPP are a collector, an absorber, a chimney, and a turbine that is coupled with a generator. The feasibility study of these thermal devices is required. In this paper, a study of a solar chimney power plant is reported. In fact, a numerical investigation of the obstacle effect on the distributions of the airflow in a solar chimney is presented using the commercial CFD code Ansys Fluent. The comparison between numerical and experimental findings has shown good agreement for the considered instance. Accordingly, the presented numerical model is capable of estimating the airflow characteristics inside the solar device. Results showed that the placement of obstacles at the collector output favors the performance of an existing solar chimney. The generated power could be enhanced by 11.5% using one obstacle and 14.75% using two obstacles.