Coupled Thermal and Mechanical Dynamic Performances of the Molten Salt Packed-Bed Thermal Energy Storage System

  • HUANG Lijuan ,
  • DU Baocun ,
  • LEI Yonggang
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  • College of Civil Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China

Online published: 2023-12-01

Supported by

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51906172) and the Applied Basic Research Programs of Shanxi Province (Grant No. 201901D111058).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022

Abstract

In this paper, the thermal and mechanical dynamic performances of molten salt packed-bed thermal energy storage (TES) system are investigated by coupling Finite Volume Method (FVM) and Finite Element Method (FEM). Firstly, an integration model coupling FVM and FEM in packed-bed tank is developed. Particularly, the pore water static pressure caused by the liquid level of molten salt is applied in the coupled method. Based on this model, the dynamic characteristics of thermal and stress distributions are simulated. Finally, the effects of porosity, inlet temperature and velocity on the thermal and stress performances are analyzed. The results indicate that the temperature and stress of the wall increase during the discharging process, and the peak stress occurs at the tank bottom connecting with the ground foundation. The method of increasing porosity is helpful to improve the discharging power, but the plastic failure on the wall would probably occur due to the higher stress level. Increasing inlet temperature has negative influence on the thermal and safety performances, because lower discharging power and higher stress would be produced adversely. Although the lower stress can be achieved when the higher inlet velocity is adopted, the effective discharge time would be decreased significantly.

Cite this article

HUANG Lijuan , DU Baocun , LEI Yonggang . Coupled Thermal and Mechanical Dynamic Performances of the Molten Salt Packed-Bed Thermal Energy Storage System[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2022 , 31(5) : 1337 -1350 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-022-1659-9

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