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Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Simulation of an innovative internal design of a plate solar receiver:

Comparison between RANS and LES results
Arnaud Colleoni a,b, Adrien Toutant a,c,, Gabriel Olalde a
a
Laboratoire PROMES, UPR CNRS 8521, 7 rue du four solaire, 66120 Odeillo, France
TOTAL, Energies Nouvelles, 2 place Jean Miller, La Defense 6, 98078 Paris La DefenseCedex, France
c
University of Perpignan Via Domitia, UPVD, 52 avenue Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan Cedex 9, France

Received 24 October 2013; received in revised form 14 April 2014; accepted 18 April 2014
Available online 24 May 2014
Communicated by: Associate Editor Michael EPSTEIN

Abstract
This work focuses on the simulation of the internal structure of a plate solar receiver with asymmetrical heating. The receiver examined in this paper is irradiated by concentrated sunlight and heats up pressurised air to high temperature. Solar receivers, in the same way
as some other industrial heat exchangers, are heated asymmetrically due to one-sided solar irradiation. A previous paper studied a plate
solar receiver designed with ns. In this paper, the forced internal convective heat transfer and friction loss behaviours inside the receiver
are studied for turbulent ows generated by a combination of delta-winglet vortex generators and longitudinal riblets. Steady-state Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations were rst carried out for this kind of geometry. Subsequently, the uctuations and
the thin structures of the ow eld were studied with a Large Eddy Scale simulation (LES). LES results allow for a better understanding
of the behaviour of the generated vortices and thermal exchanges are modelled more accurately. A comparison between LES and RANS
results shows that RANS simulation misrepresents the behaviour of the vortices generated by the vortex generators, which leads to an
overestimation of pressure loss and thermal exchanges.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Plate solar receiver; Fluid heat exchanger; LES simulation; RANS simulation; Vortex generator; Riblets

1. Introduction
The Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology has
great potential to produce electricity using solar resources.
However, the eciency of current solar plants does not
exceed 20% over the course of one year (Schwarzbozl
et al., 2002). One way to increase this eciency is to use
a gas thermodynamic cycle such as the Brayton cycle.
The key to using such a cycle is to heat up pressurised air
Corresponding author at: Laboratoire PROMES, UPR CNRS 8521,
Tecnosud, Rambla de la thermodynamique, 66100 Perpignan, France.
Tel.: +33 (0)4 68 68 27 09.
E-mail address: adrien.toutant@univ-perp.fr (A. Toutant).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.04.017
0038-092X/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

as hot as possible and feed it into the turbine: the higher

the temperature at the outlet of the solar receiver, the
greater the solar eciency of the power plant. Thus, the
receiver, which absorbs concentrated solar energy and
transmits it to the working uid, is the key part of the
power plant.
There are two main kinds of receivers for such a task:
open receivers and pressurised receivers. Open receivers
use air at ambient pressure, which in most cases is pumped
into the receiver from the outside through a porous structure (Agraotis et al., 2006). The compression of the gas
must then be performed at high temperature, which is quite
dicult. Among pressurised receivers (uid pressure
between 10 and 20 bar), volumetric receivers can be

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

distinguished from plate receivers. Volumetric receivers are

simply open receivers located behind a tight window shield
to maintain the uid under pressure. The main drawback is
that the window shield is very expensive and fragile. Hence
a scale-up is dicult to imagine (Karni et al., 1998). That is
why the development of plate solar receivers without window shields is very interesting.
The PEGASE project (Production of Electricity from
Gas and Solar Energy, PROMES. PEGASE) intends to
develop a 1.4 MWel experimental 3rd generation pilot
power plant on the site of the former power plant THEMIS
(Targassonne, France) using plate solar receivers. A hybrid
solar gas turbine will generate electricity with a high solarto-electricity eciency (from 25% to 30%, PROMES.
PEGASE). Its operation is similar to a classical gas turbine
cycle (compressor, combustion chamber and turbine), with
an add-on before the combustion chamber: the solar receiver. The compressed gas is heated up in the solar receiver
thanks to concentrated solar radiation, and could be further
heated inside the combustion chamber if necessary (low
direct normal radiation, or during the night), preventing
the turbine from being damaged because of numerous starts
and stops. Another advantage of this technology is its
reduced water consumption, which makes it particularly suitable to potential plant sites, which are mainly arid locations.
In order to be compatible with the gas turbine of the
PEGASE project, the receiver, with a total irradiated area
of 20 m2, must accept a total mass ow rate of about 7 kg/s
at a 10 bar working pressure. It cannot generate more than
250 mbar of pressure loss and has to be able to heat air up
to 1000 C. Thus, a compromise between ecient heat
transfer and low pressure drop has to be reached for the
internal geometry of the receiver.
As investigated previously by Daguenet-Frick et al.
(2013), the receiver must be multi-staged for two reasons:
the length of the receiver required to heat the air up to
the required temperature is smaller than the width of the
irradiated area and the admissible pressure loss is limited.
A rst design of an internal geometry for the solar receiver
was carried out and studied numerically by DaguenetFrick et al. (2013). This internal design based on ns has
shown a good heat transfer capacity with pressure loss
remaining below the limitation. However, the geometry is
not ideal as the mixing of the uid is not great (inhomogeneous temperature), leading to a strong gradient of temperature inside the uid with a high temperature near the wall,
resulting in a reduction of heat transfers.
To make the most of the concentrated solar heating,
plate solar receivers require the development of compact
and high-performance thermal systems. In such a kind of
receiver, the radiative heating is asymmetrical since the
concentrated sunlight heats only one face of the receiver.
Various methods have been developed to improve heat
transfer in such congurations. These methods can be
divided into two categories: the rst one involves extensions of the transfer surface and the second one modications of the ow eld using passive mechanisms to

733

increase local convection. Most studies focus on optimising

one of the two methods. An increase in the transfer surface
is generally based on ns. The heat transfer enhancement
achieved is very interesting thanks to an increase in the wetted surface but the rise of friction is very high (DaguenetFrick et al., 2013). To reduce it, investigations of ribbed
channels have been carried out. As a matter of fact, riblets
have the capacity to reduce friction, in comparison with a
smooth wall, while also enhancing the wetted surface. Nevertheless, the eectiveness of heat transfer improvement
with a reduction in friction seems to be reached only if
the height of the riblets is about 20% of the thermal layer
thickness (Stalio and Nobile, 2003). However, riblets of different heights and shapes can be used to enhance thermal
performances. For instance, Hans et al. (2010) carried
out a study on a multiple V-shaped riblets plate and found
that for a Reynolds number of 20,000 the best roughened
geometry reached a Nusselt number about 6 times the
one of a smooth wall at a 3 times higher friction coecient.
Regarding the modications of the ow eld, vortex ow
generators are used in many engineering elds to promote
heat transfer. They are designed to create vortices that
increase turbulence levels resulting in an enhancement of
heat transfer with a low penalty of pressure losses. For
instance, Depaiwa et al. (2010) investigated thermal transfer enhancement by using rectangular winglet vortex generators in a solar air heater channel. They found a maximum
enhancement of the Nusselt number of 200% at a Reynolds
number of 20,000 for a friction factor enhancement of 25%
compared to a smooth channel. The present study focuses
on a new conguration, combining riblets with DeltaWinglet Vortex Generators (DWVGs) to increase heat
transfer while also minimising the pressure loss inside a
plate solar receiver, studied by Colleoni et al. (2012). In
contrast to the studies mentioned above, the riblets are
placed in the ow direction. Their goal is to canalize the
vortices generated by the DWVGs while enhancing the
transfer surface at the same time. The vortices enhance
the turbulence level as well as the convective transfers
between the uid and the wall by moving the high central
speeds of the cold uid closer to the hot wall and the riblets. The rst results obtained show great potential in comparison with the classical geometry based on ns that was
studied initially for the solar receiver (Daguenet-Frick
et al., 2013). The major improvements were a decrease in
pressure losses and a more ecient mixing of the uid
resulting in an increase in the convective thermal transfers
for the full length of the receiver (by homogenising the uid
temperature and guaranteeing a higher temperature dierence between the wall and the uid).
With respect to the validity of the simulations, several
studies (Rumsey and Nishino, 2011; Rollet-Miet et al.,
1999) have shown that LES (Large Eddy Simulation) simulations produce results that are closer to the experiments
than RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes) simulations for this kind of ow prediction. More precisely,
Velte et al. (2007) have shown in a rst study that steady-

734

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

state RANS simulations were not reliable in predicting the

behaviour of longitudinal vortices nor in predicting the
modications they involve on the boundary layer. Subsequently, a second study of Velte et al. (2008) proved the
potential of LES simulations to predict the behaviour of
longitudinal vortices showing a good correlation with
experimental results. Moreover, many studies (Aulery
et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2006) showed that LES simulations
are more reliable in predicting thermal exchanges as well as
the mixing in the ow than RANS simulations. Thus, in the
absence of experimental datasets for comparison, a rst
trend regarding the validity of RANS simulation using
LES simulation seems pertinent.
This paper begins by describing the geometrical and
numerical setup and presents the criteria used to assess
the performance of the receiver. Numerical results are presented for an inlet Reynolds number of 25,000. RANS and
LES approaches are considered for the simulation of the
ow generated by the internal structure using Fluent commercial code.

The solar receiver works at high temperature and is

pressurised. As we intend in future research to use these
results in comparison with experiments carried out in a
wind tunnel, the operating conditions are modied. Thus,
the uid enters the computational domain at 293 K and
atmospheric pressure. To ensure coherence with the study
of the solar receiver, the Reynolds number is identical,
adapting the ow velocities accordingly.
A temperature of 573 K was used as a thermal boundary
condition on the top wall to facilitate the comparison of the
thermal exchanges for both numerical simulations. As we
intend to investigate the thermal interactions of the uid
with the irradiated textured surface, the upper surface temperature evolves with x. It is maintained at a temperature
of 293 K until the outlet of the DWVGs (at x/d = 5.8).
Afterwards, the temperature is maintained at 573 K. The
lower wall is insulated. The Reynolds number at the inlet
is 25,000 and is dened as:

2. Geometrical and numerical setup

where U is the mean ow velocity and m is the kinematic

viscosity.

2.1. Geometrical features

The internal geometry of a plate solar receiver with asymmetrical heating is modelled. The internal geometry is illustrated in Fig. 1. The lower wall is smooth whereas the
upper wall, irradiated on its outer face, is covered with
DWVGs in combination with riblets. The parameters of this
conguration (shape, size and location of DWVGs and riblets) were optimised numerically by Colleoni et al. (2012).
The length of the computational domain (L) is twelve
times the half-height of the channel (d). The width (l) is
three times its half-height. The upper surface is composed
of four counter-rotating Delta-Winglet Vortex Generators
(DWVG) as dened by Godard and Stanislas (2006). The
inlet of the DWVGs is at x/d = 4 and they are located in
such a way that the vortices generated are centred between
the riblets. Triangular riblets are located downstream from
the DWVGs at x/d = 6.6 to x/d = 12. Their height is equal
to the half-height of the channel. Periodic conditions are
used on both sides of the domain to be free from wall
eects.

Fig. 1. Computational domain.

Re

U 2d
m

2.2. Numerical methodology

In this study, both RANS and LES methodologies were
considered. RANS models produce valuable simulations
for standard cases in rather short times and can be used
as initial conditions for LES calculations. Application of
LES methods allows us to partially resolve ow scales at
larger but acceptable computational costs. For the simulations, we used the commercial CFD package FLUENT
with a second order implicit iterative time advancement
scheme. For convective terms, a second order upwind
scheme was used as well as a standard SIMPLE algorithm
for coupling pressure and velocity. The RANS computations were carried out with a Reynolds Stress Model
(RSM) turbulence treatment.
The RSM closed the Reynolds Averaged NavierStokes
equations by solving transport equations for the Reynolds
stresses, together with an equation for the dissipation rate.
Consequently, seven additional transport equations were
required in 3D ows (Launder et al., 1975). Concerning
the LES simulations, the Wall-Adapting Local Eddy-viscosity (WALE) model (Nicoud and Ducros, 1999) was used
for the modelling of the subgrid scale viscosity and a constant turbulent Prandtl number (Prt = 0.85) was employed
for the modelling of the subgrid scale conductivity (Aulery
et al., 2012; Serra et al., 2009, 2012). Furthermore, LES calculations were performed with a bounded central dierencing for the convective terms in the momentum equation.
The initial condition was simulated with a periodic
channel. Consequently, a fully developed velocity prole
was used as the inlet velocity boundary conditions for the
RANS and LES simulations. A well-developed state of a
RANS simulation of the whole uid domain was set as a

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

starting point for the LES calculations. A suitable turbulent inow condition is crucial for the accuracy of the calculations (Lund et al., 1998; Jarrin et al., 2006). Therefore,
the vortex method available in Fluent was applied to generate a turbulent time-dependent inlet condition. This
approach adds a perturbation on a specied mean velocity
prole via a uctuating vorticity eld. The uctuating eld
is calculated using the 2D evolution equation of the vorticity. An adapted vortex size is computed with local turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation rate. This method was,
in particular, validated for channel ow (Mathey et al.,
2006).
A grid study was carried out with y+ from 2.5 to 15,
showing a dierence in the Nusselt number between the
three highest grid densities below 5%. As a result, the mesh
renement chosen for the RANS simulation is y+ = 4.6 as
a compromise between lightening the computational time
and capturing the viscous sub-layer (to avoid using law
of the wall). The mesh generated for the whole uid
domain was about 65 millions of tetrahedral cells. The
LES simulation was performed on the mesh constructed
for the RANS case. The RANS calculation lasted for
160 h and the LES simulation for about 800 h wall-clock
time on a deported server with 128 processors.
2.3. Governing equations for RANS simulation
It is assumed that the ow is described by three-dimensional steady NavierStokes and energy equations. The
gravity eect is assumed negligible since the Richardson
number is equal to 7E3 (see for instance Turner, 1998).
Moreover, as the Mach number characteristic of the ow
is 0.02, we can use the low Mach number approximation.
As we resolve the Reynolds Averaged NavierStokes equations, each ow parameter is decomposed as the sum of a
mean value and a uctuating value. For instance, the velocity is expressed as:
Ui 
ui u0i

As the density (q) varies strongly, the ltering based on the

Favre mean (see for instance Pope, 2000) is:

ui

hqui i
hqi

where h i is the statistic average.

Eventually, the governing equations for mass, momentum and energy with a low Mach number approximation
are (see for instance Pope, 2000):
@
hqi
ui 0
@xi
hqiuj

 

@
@hP dyn i
@
@
ui @
uj


hli

ui 
@xj
@xi
@xj
@xj @xi



2 @
@
@ 
uj

hli
hqiu0i u0j

3 @xi
@xj
@xj

hqiC p ui




@T
@
@T
@ 

hki
hqiT 0 u0i
 Cp
@xi @xi
@xi
@xi

735

where l is the dynamic viscosity, k is the conductivity, Cp is

the specic heat capacity, T is the temperature and P is the
pressure. The thermodynamic properties of the uid are
determined thanks to ideal gas laws.
The RSM model introduces six equations (Launder
et al., 1975) in a 3D problem, for solving Reynolds stress
components of Eq. (5): u0i u0j .


@ 
@ 
hqiuk u0i u0j 
hqiu0i u0j u0k P dyn dkj u0i dik u0j
@xk
@xk
!
@u0i u0j
@
@
uj

hli
 hqiu0i u0k
@xk
@xk
@xk
 0

@ui
@ui @u0j
u0j u0k
P dyn

@xk
@xj @xi
@u0 @u0j
 2hli i
@xk @xk
7
The rst member of the right part of Eq. (7) is modelled by
the generalised diusion gradient model developed by Daly
and Harlow (1970):
!

@ 
@ hlt i @u0i u0j
0
0 0 0
0
0

hqiui uj uk P dyn dkj ui dik uj
@xk
@xk rk @xk
8
where rk = 0.82 (Lien and Leschziner, 1994).
The fourth member of the right part of Eq. (7) can be
decomposed in three parts modelled according to Gibson
and Launder (1978) model:
 0

@ui @u0j
0
P dyn

9
/ij;1 /ij;2 /ij;w
@xj @xi
And the last member of the right part of Eq. (7) is modelled using Sarkar and Balakrishnan (1990) model:


@u0 @u0j 2
k
2hli i
dij hqie 2hqie 2
10
c
@xk @xk 3
where c* is the sound velocity and e the dissipation modelled using:


e
e
@
@
hlt i @e
1
hqieui
hli
C e1 hP ii i   C e2 hqi 
@xi
@xj
re @xj
2
k
k
11
where re = 1.0; Ce1 = 1.44; Ce2 = 1.92.
2.4. Governing equations for LES simulation

It is assumed that the ow is described by three-dimensional NavierStokes and energy equations. Gravity is negligible and the low Mach number approximation is applied.

736

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

The governing equations for mass, momentum and energy

are (see for instance Pope, 2000):
@hqi @hqiui

0
@t
@xi

12

 

@hP 0dyn i
@hqi
@
@
ui @quj ui
ui @
uj

hli

@xi
@xj
@t
@xj
@xj @xi


uj
2 @
@
@hqisij

hli
13

3 @xi
@xj
@xj




@hqiT @hqi
@hP thermo i
@
@T
uj T
Cp

hki

@t
@xj
@t
@xj
@xj
 Cp

@hqifij
@xj

14

where sij is the subgrid scale turbulent tensor and fij the
subgrid scale turbulent ux.
The subgrid scale turbulent tensor sij can be written as:


1
1 @
ui @
uj
sij  dij skk 2vsm

15
3
2 @xj @xi
The anisotropic part of this tensor is modelled while the
isotropic part skk is not modelled but added to the dynamic
pressure (Pdyn) in the momentum equation.
1
hP 0dyn i hP dyn i hqiskk
3

16

The WALE model (Nicoud and Ducros, 1999) is used for

modelling the subgrid scale viscosity (msm).
The subgrid scale turbulent ux fij can be written as:
msm @T
fj
Prt @xj

17

The turbulent Prandtl number is considered constant

(Prt = 0.85) for our study.
2.5. Statistic calculations
Before starting the statistics calculation, we initialized the
uid domain with the number of time steps necessary to
cross the entire uid domain. For statistical convergence of
a channel ow, ndings in the literature (Nicoud, 1998) suggest a physical calculation time dened as the time necessary
to cross at least eight times the uid domain. The granted
hours in the deported server allowed us to meet this requirement precisely. However, as the ow elds in our channel are
modied by DWVGs and riblets, the statistical convergence
was not perfectly reached. To reach the statistical convergence, we carried out a spatial mean on a quarter of the uid
domain thanks to geometrical symmetries.
2.6. Performance evaluation
To compare the internal geometry performances
obtained from LES and RANS simulations, two criteria
were used: the dimensionless turbulent kinetic energy and
the thermal enhancement factor.

The dimensionless turbulent kinetic energy (k+) is

dened as the ratio of the kinetic energy (k) on the square
shear velocity (us):
k

k
u2s

18

This isothermal criterion is based on the hypothesis that

the turbulent kinetic energy measuring the intensity of the
mixing in the uid volume is representative of the heat transfer. Thus, as it is a ratio of a given heat transfer to a pressure
loss (taken into account with the shear velocity), the dimensionless averaged turbulent kinetic energy seems pertinent.
Another criterion is the thermal enhancement factor
based on the study of Webb and Eckert (1972). It is dened
as the ratio of the global convection coecient of an augmented surface (calculated with the average temperature of
the uid) to that of a smooth surface at the same pumping
power. It can also be written as:
 13  23
Nu f
k q
n
19
Nu0 f0
k 0 q0
where Nu is the Nusselt number and f is the Fanning friction factor.
In our case, to compare the performances obtained from
the two simulations, we used the ratio of the thermal
enhancement factor calculated with the LES simulations
to that calculated with the RANS simulations, freeing us
of reference values.
3. Results analysis
First, a comparison is carried out between the LES and
RANS results in x/d = 2 (half way between the inlet of the
computational domain and the inlet of the DWVGs) and
the Van Driest correlation (Van Driest, 1956) describing
the velocity prole near the wall in a channel. Given the
particular ow eld inside our exchanger, a comparison
of the hydraulic behaviour calculated by LES and RANS
simulations is then performed. Finally, the thermal performances are compared.
3.1. Comparisons with literature
The calculation of the shear velocity for both simulations
shows a slight dierence (2% for LES and 5% for RANS) in
comparison with the theoretical shear velocity obtained from
the Dean correlation (see for instance Pope, 2000). It shows
that the viscous sub-layer is not totally solved. Thus, to compare the velocity proles to ndings in the literature, they are
adimensionalised using the theoretical shear velocity. Dimensionless velocity proles near the wall obtained from RANS
and LES simulations are compared with the Van Driest correlation, as shown in Fig. 2.
The velocity proles obtained from RANS and LES
simulations follow the Van Driest correlation quite well,
validating the calculation code.

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

Fig. 2. Comparison of dimensionless velocity proles from RANS and

LES with Van Driest correlation.

3.2. Hydraulic behaviour analysis

The internal structure modies the ow eld by generating longitudinal vortices. Studies of the evolution of longitudinal vortices have already been carried out (Velte et al.,
2007, 2008) and show that in contrast to LES simulations,
RANS simulations are not reliable in predicting the behaviour of these vortices.
The evolution of the mean streamwise velocity and
streamlines along the computational domain are presented
in Fig. 3. It shows that until the appearance of the vortex in
the riblets zone (x/d = 6.6), the velocity proles as well as
the shape and size of the vortex seem to be similar for both
simulations. However, from x/d = 8, the shape and size of
the vortex are dierent for both simulations. The RANS
simulation canalizes a vortex as wide as the riblet is high
with an elliptical shape, whereas in the LES simulations
the vortex size increases less and maintains a rounded
shape. It is also interesting to notice the presence of recirculations at the base of the riblets on some slices. In the
RANS simulation, these recirculations are created at x/

737

d = 8 and they seem to remain steady until disappearing

at x/d = 12. On the contrary, in the LES simulation the
recirculations appear at x/d = 8 and increase until creating
a wide recirculation on top of the main vortex. So at x/
d = 12, the physical phenomena are dierent for both simulations since the RANS simulation shows a wide elliptical
vortex while the LES simulation shows a smaller rounded
vortex combined with a wide recirculation. In order to
identify the most realistic simulation, it is interesting to
compare RANS simulation with stereoscopic particles
image velocimetry (S-PIV) results in the isothermal case.
Note that we choose the isothermal case for the comparison because the experimental setup is not yet ready for
anisothermal measurements. Fig. 4 compares the evolution
of the mean streamwise velocity obtained by S-PIV and
RANS simulation. It is worth noting that similarly to the
comparison between LES and RANS simulations, the
RANS simulation does not capture the creation of a secondary vortex at the riblet base.
To quantify the dierence of the simulated intensity of
the vortices for both simulations, Fig. 5 shows the evolution of the maximum velocity Vy+, which corresponds to
the maximum tangential velocity of the vortex generated.
One can see that the maximum tangential velocity obtained
with RANS simulation decreases faster than that obtained
with LES simulation. This means that the longitudinal vortex dissipates faster in RANS simulation.
Based on observations in the literature (Velte et al., 2007,
2008), we can conclude that for the studied geometry, RANS
simulation does not do well in predicting the evolution (intensity, shape) of the vortices generated, modifying the physical
phenomena of the ow. Consequently, the mechanisms of
friction and heat transfer should also be modied.
In Fig. 6, illustrating the evolution of the uctuation
Vx_rms+ along the computational domain, we notice a sig-

Fig. 3. Planes of the mean streamwise velocity and streamlines along the computational domain. Comparison between RANS and LES results.

738

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

Fig. 4. Planes of the mean streamwise velocity and streamlines along the computational domain. Comparison between RANS and S-PIV results in the
isothermal case.

Fig. 5. Evolution of the maximum velocity Vy+.

nicant increase in the uctuation level. At x/d = 5.8, the

longitudinal vortex is created, increasing the uctuation
level below the top wall. Then the increase in the uctuation level spreads to half of the height of the channel. It
matches the displacement of the vortex, as observed in
Fig. 3. This rise in uctuation leads to an enhancement
of the turbulence level, which is responsible for the mixing
in the uid volume.
The presence of the internal geometry increases the skin
friction coecient, as shown in Fig. 7, in comparison with
a smooth channel (at x/d = 4). At x/d = 5.2 and 5.8, the
skin friction is increased by the presence of the vortices.
At x/d = 6.6, the vortices have just reached the riblets without being inuenced by their presence so far. The increase
in friction due to the vortices combined with the increase in
the interaction surface due to the riblets leads to a peak of
the skin friction coecient. Subsequently, from x/d = 8,
the skin friction decreases as the vortices are dissipating.

Fig. 6. Evolution of uctuation Vx_rms+.

Fig. 7. Evolution of the skin friction coecient.

We notice that the level of skin friction is higher for the

RANS simulation. It is supposed to cause a higher pressure
loss than the LES simulation.

A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

3.3. Thermal behaviour analysis

The discrepancies observed in the hydraulic behaviour
of the ow are supposed to aect the heat transfer
mechanisms.
Results from Fig. 8, showing the evolution of projected
Nusselt numbers along the computational domain for both
RANS and LES simulations, conrm this hypothesis since
the level of the projected Nusselt number is higher for the
RANS simulation. This could be due to the fact that the
main longitudinal vortex has a shape that matches the riblets, as observed in Fig. 3, maximising the interaction
between the vortex and the wall. The projected Nusselt
number increases between x/d = 5.2 and 5.8, due to the
vortices generated at 5.2. At x/d = 6.6, the vortices have
just arrived at the riblets and are not inuenced by their
presence so far. The increase in the surface thanks to the
riblets leads to a peak of the projected Nusselt number.
From x/d = 7, the dissipation of the vortices on the wall
causes the projected Nusselt number to decrease. Finally,
it is interesting to notice that from x/d = 8 to x/d = 12,
the projected Nusselt numbers of the RANS simulation
decrease faster than the projected Nusselt numbers of the

739

LES simulation. This could be explained by the fact that

the vortices intensity decreases faster with the RANS
simulation.
The proles of the temperature uctuation and correlations uT, vT and wT at x/d = 12, plotted in Fig. 9,
allow for a better understanding of heat transfer mechanisms. The RMS-T prole puts in evidence the interaction of the vortex with the riblets, since the areas of
strong uctuation correspond to the places where the tangential velocities of the vortex deviate from the riblets.
The uctuations remain at a high level near the top wall,
where a wide recirculation takes place, as can be observed
in Fig. 3. We can also notice a peak of uctuation at the
head of the right riblet, due to a recirculation. The turbulent convection in the streamwise direction (uT prole)
matches the temperature uctuation. The vT prole
shows the rotating eect of the vortex on the convection.
The wT prole indicates a strong turbulent convection at
the head of the riblets. The high velocities near the left
riblets due to the vortex lead to a high heat extraction
toward the right riblets. The evolution of these variables
along the uid domain (x/d) shows an increase in the
phenomena highlighted above.
3.4. Global variables and performance evaluation

Fig. 8. Evolution of projected Nusselt number for RANS and LES

simulations.

As shown in Table 1, the evolution of pressure loss

along the computational domain for RANS and LES simulations is dierent. The RANS simulation overestimates
the pressure loss by 23% for the simulated length, which
could be due to the interaction of its wide vortex with the
riblets (observed in Fig. 3), speeding its dissipation (as
shown on Fig. 4).
The evolution of temperature along the computational
domain for both RANS and LES simulations is also illustrated in Table 1. We can see that the uid temperature is
higher for the RANS simulation (+26%), which conrms
the previous observation of the Nusselt numbers in
Section 3.3.

Fig. 9. RMS-T prole (a), uT prole (b), vT prole (c) and wT prole (d) at x/d = 12.

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A. Colleoni et al. / Solar Energy 105 (2014) 732741

Table 1
Pressure loss and temperature evolution for RANS and LES simulations.
x/d
Pressure loss
Pressure loss
Temperature
Temperature

(Pa) RANS
(Pa) LES
(K) RANS
(K) LES

5.8

6.6

10

12

1.25
1.34
293
293

5.14
4.42
293.5
293.42

10.81
9.56
296.38
296.03

14.75
13.17
300.81
299.82

18.71
16.07
306.17
304.1

22.34
18.16
310.83
307.15

Table 2
Averaged dimensionless kinetic energy (k+) for RANS and LES
simulations.
x/d
+

k RANS
k+ LES

5.2

5.8

6.6

10

12

1.86
1.25

1.16
0.73

0.88
0.45

0.92
0.55

0.99
0.7

0.98
0.73

The overall performances obtained from both simulations are compared using two criteria: the dimensionless
kinetic energy and the thermal enhancement factor.
Table 2 presents the evolution of the averaged dimensionless kinetic energy for both simulations along the
length of the exchanger. One can see that the level of k+
is higher for the RANS simulation. Moreover, as the skin
friction coecient is higher for the RANS simulation
(Fig. 6), the turbulent kinetic energy is largely overestimated in comparison with the LES simulation. It conrms
the overestimation of thermal exchanges (Table 1). Regarding the evolution of k+, we can see that the creation of the
vortex increases the level k+ (at x/d = 5.2). Subsequently,
its level decreases as the vortex dissipates while moving
along the riblets.
As dened previously (Eq. (16)), the ratio of the thermal
enhancement factor is calculated:
nRANS
1; 18
20
nLES
The thermal enhancement factor is higher (+18%) for
the RANS simulation. Nevertheless, the RANS overestimation of pressure loss (+19%) partially compensates for
its overestimation of heat transfer (+26%).
4. Conclusion
This paper describes the simulations that were carried
out to investigate the hydraulic and thermal behaviour of
an innovative internal geometry inside a plate solar receiver. Both RANS and LES simulations were performed
and subsequently compared with each other.
First of all, the hydraulic behaviour of the longitudinal
vortices generated was studied. It was shown that RANS
simulation is more dissipative than LES simulation, generating more pressure losses. Moreover, LES and RANS
simulations generate dierent physical phenomena, such
as recirculations, leading to dierent shapes, intensities
and behaviours of the vortices. These results agree with literature (Velte et al., 2007, 2008), which shows that results
from LES simulations are more realistic. Furthermore, an

isothermal experiment using S-PIV seems to conrm that

RANS simulation does not capture the behaviour of secondary vortices.
The hydraulic discrepancies aect the thermal transfers.
Thus, the RANS simulation overestimates the thermal
exchanges. This could be attributed to the fact that the
shape of the vortices matches the top hot riblets-enhanced
surface, maximising the interaction of the vortices with the
wall. These results also agree with the literature (Liu et al.,
2006), which has shown that LES simulations provide more
realistic results regarding thermal exchanges than RANS
simulations.
Finally, the overall performance along the simulated
length was calculated for both simulations. Based on the
results from the LES simulation, we estimate that RANS
simulation overestimates the global thermal performance
by 18% for the considered length, which should be taken
into account when dimensioning the solar receiver.
Further research is needed to conrm the conclusions of
this study, in particular a comparison with experimental
data obtained in anisothermal conditions.
Acknowledgments
This work was granted access to the HPC resources of
CINES under the allocation c2011026645 made by GENCI
(Grand Equipement National de Calcul Intensif).
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