Solar Energy, Vol. 19, pp. 571-572. Pergamon Press 1977.

Printed in Great Britain

TECHNICAL NOTE

Measurement of rock pile heat transfer coefficients

ELVIO ALANJS, LUIS SARAVIA and LETICIA ROVETTA

Departamento de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de Salta, 4400 Salta, Argentina

(Received 12 March 1976; in revised form 24 January 1977)

INTRODUCTION Table 2. Physical properties of the pebbles used in the

The use of rock pile heat storage systems has been considered experiments
for different solar energy applications[I-3]. Experimental data
for the heat transfer coefficient h~ between air and rocks of Property Type I Type II
irregular shape are scarce. Lff and Hawley[4] have obtained
experimental results for the type of rock beds most commonly Density 2360 kg/m 3 2360 kg/m 3
used in solar energy storage. Kays and London[5] correlate data Fraction of voids 42% 42%
for packed beds from different sources. Dunkle and Ellul[6] have Equivalent diameter 0.051 m 0.028 m
proposed the use of the equation obtained by Kays and Specific heat 879 J/kg °K 879 J/kg °K
London[5] for the design of randomly-packed beds.
The authors have had the opportunity to test some rock piles
in the northwest part of Argentina, where the easily available
native gravel is composed of smooth rounded river pebbles. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Some results for the heat transfer coefficients h~ were obtained The methods used to measure h~ requires the comparison of
for values of the air velocity lower than those used by L6f and the gas temperature G at different times ~" and distances x from
Hawley [4]. the input. This is difficult to do because of the experimental
The measurement of he is performed by means of a transient scatter of results. In order to improve the comparison the results
method where a temperature step is applied to the bed, and the were plotted in such a way that the measured values of t, for all
obtained time-temperature relations for the fluid at different r and x were compared with the theoretical values in only one
points in the pile are compared with the theoretical curves plot.
calculated by Schumann [7] and by Furnas [8]. The results for h~ obtained for two different sizes of pebbles,
On the following, the gravel and the test facility are described for air velocities ranging from 0.02 to 0.12m/s and air tem-
and the obtained results are discussed, A list of the symbols used peratures between 18 and 67°C are given in Fig. 1. In order to
in the present work is given in Table 1. allow the comparison with previous results, the present ones are
given both in terms of dimensional magnitudes, he and G/d, as
well as in terms of the non dimensional Stanton and Reynolds
Table 1. List of symbols numbers. In the last case they are given for each one of the two
used diameters.
The correlation obtained by Lof and Hawley[4] is shown in
G Mass velocity of gas on frontal area basis, kg s 1 m 2. Fig. 1. The values of G/d used in the present experiment are
he Volumetric heat transfer coefficient, W m 3oK 7.
d Equivalent spherical diameter of particle, m
/z Air viscosity, N s m -2
c Specific heat of air at constant pressure, J kg ' °K-' )00 | I I --I J P I I ' [ I r I

t, Air temperature, °C
10( 1 1 I Pebble ripe I (d=O 05Ira) e ~e ~@t
x Distance from the air imput, m / r o Po=,e .oe. (,~.o.o28,.,,) S.o~" 1
Time, s 1 ~ooo f~;~> ,.j
f Voids fraction
Re Reynolds number, = (G d/#)
St Stanton number, = (he d/c G).
¢: ~ 'El!ooe ~" --" ." I
oi 41-
DESCRIPTION OF THE GRAVELAND THE TEST FACILITY
~00 -~j/ ," .... KeysendLondon[5]~
The gravel to be tested is contained in a 0.56 m diam. by 0.90 m ." ~ // " -- present work
high tank which is insulated. Two chambers 0.10 m high are placed
at the top and bottom of the tank. A fan is provided to blow air
upwards through the pile and a regulated electric heater provides I 0.5 G / d (Kg. m -3. s41
d=O.OSIm, , , , ~,
constant temperature. The flow rate is measured by means of a 50 I00 2 0 500
venturi meter. The air temperatures along the center of the pile d=O.O28m ' ~ , I
2o 5b . . . . ,8o 28o
are measured by copper-constantau thermocouples placed every Re
0.1 m along the axis of the tank, and recorded on a multiple
channel potentiometer recorder. Fig. l. Shows the experimental values of the heat transfer coeffi-
Gravel of two different sizes was used. Their properties are cient he obtained for different values of the mass flow G and the
given in Table 2. The equivalent spherical diameter d is defined diameter d. In order to allow the comparison with the correlation
by the relation d = 3"~¢/6 V/,;r, where V is the volume of the proposed by Lff and Hawley[4] and by Kays and London[5],
pebble measured by weighing a certain number of particles. different sets of axis are used in the same plot.

571
572 Technical Note
lower than those of the mentioned work, although there is a small
amount of superposition for the higher values of Gld.
The correlation proposed by Kays and London[5], as given by
Dunkle and Ellul[6], is also shown in Fig. 1, for each one of the
two diameters used in the experiments. The range for the Rey-
nolds number in the present work, from 56 to 220, is well within
the one given for the correlation, from 10 to l0 s.
The method used to determine h~ proved to be reliable and not
difficult to apply. No differences were found for heating or
cooling experiments. The results obtained are somewhat higher
than those of L6f and Hawley[4] as well as those proposed by
Kays and London[5]. They are fitted by an expression of the
form
h~ = a ( G I d ) ~ (1)
with a = 824 and b = 0.92. The regression factor, r 2, for the
fitting was equal to 0.96. Since the range of measured values of
the Reynolds numbers is not large, and the scatter of results is
noticeable, the fitted straight line should not be considered as a
definitive one.
REFERENCES
1. D. J. Close, R. V. Dunkle and K. A. Robeson, Design and
performance of a thermal storage air conditioning systems.
Mech. Chem. Engng Trans. E. E. Austr., Vol MC4, No. 1, pp.
45-54 (1968).
2. J. C. Ward and G. O. G. L6f, Long term performance of a
residential solar heating systems. International Solar Energy
Congress. Los Angeles, U.S.A. (1975).
3. W. R. Read and J. Czech, Operating experience with a solar
timber kiln. International Solar Energy Congress. Los An-
geles, U.S.A. (1975).
4. G. O. G. L6f and R. W. Hawley, Unsteady-states heat transfer
between air and loose solids. Ind. Engng Chem. 40, 1061-1070
(1948).
5. W. M. Kays and A. C. London, Compact Heat Exchangers,
2rid. Edn. McGraw-Hill, New York (1964).
6. R. V. Dunkle and W. M. J. Ellul, Randomly-packed particulate
bed regenerators and evaporative coolers. Mech. Chem. Engng
Trans. I. E. Austr., Vol. MC8, No. 2, pp. 117-121 (1972).
7. T. E. W. Schumann, J. Franklin lnst 208, 405 (1929).
8. C. C. Furnas, U.S. Bur. Mines Bull. No. 361 (1932).