Discrete Element Method Modelling of the Particle Flow in Centrifugal Solar Particle Receiver

The centrifugal solar particle receiver (CentRec) is a promising design compared to other particle receiver concepts because it allows for an active adjustment of particle residence time and particle outlet temperature by adjusting the rotational speed of the drum and particle mass flow rate. A Discrete Element Method (DEM) tool is utilized to model the particle flow in CentRec. However, the numerical modeling of the particle flow in large scale receiver is computationally infeasible because of excessive number of particles in the simulation. Thus, in this study, a scale down approach is developed and validated to be used to estimate the particle film characteristics in large scale receivers. The particle velocity profile and film thickness distribution are employed to compare different receiver sizes.