Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Effects of rib arrangements on the performance of a parabolic trough T

receiver with ribbed absorber tube
⁎
Peng Liu, Jinyi Lv, Feng Shan, Zhichun Liu, Wei Liu
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

H I GH L IG H T S

• AEffects
parabolic trough receiver with ribbed tube is studied numerically.
• Rib arrangements
of rib arrangements on the thermal performance are examined numerically.
• The heat transfer and
perform significant effects on flow pattern and thermal performance.
• The maximum reductionmodified thermal efficiency are enhanced up to 220.7% and 1.9%.
• in heat loss is 80.1%.

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Six different arrangements of ribbed tube are employed to improve the performance of parabolic trough receiver
Rib arrangement (PTR) in this paper. Detailed analyses of flow structure, thermal performance, flow resistance and overall
Thermodynamic performance thermo-hydraulic performance are conducted. The results indicate that the symmetrical anticlockwise ar-
Thermal efficiency rangement of double inclined ribs (SADIR) and symmetrical clockwise arrangement of single inclined ribs
Heat loss
(SCSIR) achieve the flow pattern with a pair of counter-rotating vortexes and obtain the best performance with
reductions in peak temperature and heat loss reaching up to approximately 177 °C and 80.1%. Nusselt number of
the SADIR and SCSIR are about 1.58–3.21 and 1.41–2.98 times that of the PTR with plain tube, respectively. The
enhanced PTRs with ribbed tubes achieve great improvements in overall thermo-hydraulic performance at low
Reynolds number (Re < 30,000) but suffer poor overall performance at high Reynolds number. For the range of
parameters considered, the PEC value and modified thermal efficiency are ranged in 0.62–1.56 and 0.70–0.73,
respectively. And the maximum enhancement in modified thermal efficiency is approximately 1.9%.

1. Introduction and circumferential temperature gradient in the absorber tube. Conse-

Numerous global problems such as depletion of fossil energy, en-
vironmental pollution, climate change become increasingly serious and
urge a growing demand for clean and renewable energy supply. Solar
energy, a widely distributed clean and renewable energy source, is one
of the best energy source to solve the problems and meet the growing
demand and thus has drawn extensive attention and research [1–4].
Parabolic trough collector (PTC) is one of the most cost-effective and
mature technology for solar energy utilization and has accumulated
abundant operational experience for application [1,5]. Recently, PTCs
with high concentration ratios are used in application to reduce the size
of PTC and the number of connections thus to reduce the cost [2].
However, this design will perform a large and high non-uniform heat
flux on the absorber tube outer wall and thus lead to high temperature
quently, the PTC may suffer performance losses such as degradation of
heat transfer fluid (HTF) at high temperature, significant increase in
heat loss and thermal strain, and loss of thermal efficiency and lifetime
[6,7]. Hence, heat transfer characteristics of PTR are drawn more and
more attentions [8,9]. Cheng et al. [10] conducted a comparative and
sensitive analysis for PTC and found that the solar flux density dis-
tribution and optical efficiency is sensitive to optical errors, surface
errors and tracking errors. Zhao et al. [11] investigated the influences
of installation and tracking errors on the performance of PTC. Aichouba
et al. [12] also numerically studied the influence of the displacement of
solar receiver tubes on the performance of PTC. Mwesigye et al. [13]
reported that the optical errors significantly affect the flux distribution
on the absorber tube and consequently the thermal and heat transfer
performance. All these studies indicate that the optical performance of

⁎
Corresponding author at: Tel.: +86 27 8754 2618; fax: +86 27 8754 0724.
E-mail address: w_liu@hust.edu.cn (W. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.04.037
Received 7 January 2019; Received in revised form 8 April 2019; Accepted 12 April 2019
Available online 12 April 2019
1359-4311/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
P. Liu, et al.
Nomenclature
Aa collector’s aperture area, m2
cp specific heat capacity, J/(kg K)
d hollow diameter of inserts, mm
DNI direct normal irradiance, W/m2
f friction factor
f0 friction factor of a plain tube
h heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K
hw heat transfer coefficient of glass cover outer wall, W/(m2
K)
k turbulent kinetic energy, m2/s2
L the full length of PTR, mm
Nu Nusselt number
Nu0 Nusselt number of a plain tube
Nucir the circumferentially-average Nusselt number
P pressure, Pa
p the pitch of conical strip, mm
p* the pitch ratio
PEC performance evaluation criteria
Pr Prandtl number
q heat flux per unit area, W/m2
Re Reynolds number
T temperature, K
Tcir the circumferentially-average temperature, K
Tf fluid bulk temperature, K
Tinlet mass average temperature of the fluid in inlet, K
PTC has significant effect on the flux distribution, and therefore influ-
ence the heat transfer performance and thermal efficiency of PTC.
When optical errors are not taken into consideration, i.e. under a
constant optical performance and solar flux distribution, heat transfer
enhancement techniques, which aim to enhance the heat transfer rate
from the absorber to HTF so as to reduce tube temperature and achieve
more uniform circumferential temperature distribution, are the most
practicable strategies to improve the performance of PTC [14]. In re-
cent years, an increasing number of studies with heat transfer en-
hancement techniques for parabolic trough receiver (PTR) have been
proposed and reported. Nanofluids and turbulators (tube inserts and
modifications in absorber tube inner wall) are two usual heat transfer
augmentation techniques [15].
Nanofluids are technologies by adding and dispersing metallic na-
noparticles into the base fluid in order to increase the thermal con-
ductivity of the fluid and thus enhance the heat transfer rate [16–18].
Al2O3 is the most widely studied nanoparticle in nanofluids for PTR
[19–22]. Bellos et al. [19] conducted a numerical study on the thermal
oil based nanofluids with Al2O3 nanoparticles. They found the max-
imum heat transfer coefficient and thermal efficiency enhancements are
11% and 4.25%, respectively. Mwesigye et al. [20] have reported that
76% increase in heat transfer coefficient for PTC was obtained by dis-
persing Al2O3 nanoparticles inside the Syltherm 800. Nanofluids with
other types of nanoparticles have also been investigated. Bellos et al.
[23] studied and compared the performance the CuO nanofluids and
Al2O3 nanofluids. They found that the CuO nanofluids obtains a higher
thermal enhancement than Al2O3 nanofluids. Kasaeian et al. [24] ex-
perimental examined the performance of MCNT/Mineral oil nanofluids
for PTC and achieved 11% enhancement in thermal efficiency. How-
ever, some drawbacks of nanofluids such as instability, agglomeration
problems and high production cost limit their practical application
[16,17].
Turbulators which focus on increasing heat transfer coefficient by
disturbing the fluid and increasing the flow mixing [25] have drawn
increasing attention. One category of turbulators is tube inserts. Tape
inserts, which can induce vortexes flow in absorber tube, are the most
2
Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13
Tmax maximum temperature of absorber tube inner wall, K
Tw temperature of absorber tube inner wall, K
u fluid velocity, m/s
ui, uj the velocity component in the three-dimensional space,
m/s
uinlet the average velocity at the inlet of absorber tube, m/s
Vw wind velocity, m/s
ΔPL the pressure drop gradient along the flow direction, Pa/m
ΔT the difference between the absorber tube maximum and
minimum temperature, K
Greek symbols
α thermal diffusivity, m2/s
αt turbulent thermal diffusivity, m2/s
β central angle of inserts, (°)
δ The space between the conical strips and absorber tube
inner wall, mm
ε turbulent dissipation rate, m2/s3
ξ emissivity
φr collector rim angle, (°)
θ receiver angle, (°)
λ fluid thermal conductivity, W/m K
μ viscosity, Pa s
μt turbulent viscosity, Pa s
ρ density, kg/m3
usual inserts. Jaramillo et al. [26] and Mwesigye et al. [27] examined
the performance of PTR with twisted tape inserts and wall-detached
twisted tape inserts, respectively. Apparent thermal enhancements
along with dramatical increasement in pressure drop have been ob-
served. Chang et al. [28] numerically analyzed the flow and heat
transfer characteristics of a PTR with concentric rod and eccentric rod
inserts. They found that the heat transfer is about 1.10 to 7.42 times
over a plain PTR and the performance evaluation criteria obtained
ranges from 1.68 to 1.84. A helical screw-tape inserts has been nu-
merically investigated for enhancing performance of PTR by Song et al.
[29]. Zhu et al. [30] reported a 261–310% enhancement in heat
transfer coefficient in PTR by using wavy tape inserts. Many other tube
inserts such as conical strip inserts [31], perforated plates [32], metal
foam [33] and porous discs [34] have also been studied. However, all
these ideas have a lower heat transfer coefficient but higher pressure
drop than the tape inserts. Configurations in absorber tube inner wall
are another category of turbulators. Some researchers focus on mod-
ifying the low part of absorber tube, on where the high concentrated
heat flux is loaded [35,36]. For instance, Cheng et al. [36] investigated
the performance of PTC with unilateral longitudinal vortex generators.
Bellos et al. [37–39] examined longitudinal fins modification in PTR
with different HTF and reported 1.3–5% enhancements in thermal ef-
ficiency. Amina et al. [40] also reported a study on heat transfer en-
hancement of a PTR with longitudinal fins and nanofluids. Huang et al.
[41] conducted a numerical study on a dimpled tube in PTR and ob-
tained enhancement in heat transfer coefficient up to 21%. Some other
shaped absorber tubes such as corrugated tube [42,43] and sinusoidal
tube [44] have also been studied by researchers.
Based on literature survey, researchers all over the world have
proposed a great amount of heat transfer enhancement techniques for
heat exchange tube [45–50]. Among them, ribbed surface techniques
have been widely studied and used in rectangular channels or heat
exchange tube for heat transfer enhancement [51–54]. It was found that
the ribbed surface can effectively enhance the heat transfer in different
channels, especially under turbulent flow. Moreover, Zheng et al. [55]
reported that the rib arrangements perform perceptible effects on flow
P. Liu, et al.
structure and heat transfer of a heat exchanger tube with a uniform heat
flux distribution. However, the ribbed surfaces have rarely been studied
for enhancing thermal performance of PTC. In this study, a numerical
study has been carried out to investigate the performance of PTR with
ribbed tubes. In addition, six different rib arrangements have been in-
vestigated to determine their effects on performance of PTR. Details of
flow structure, thermal performance, flow resistance and overall
thermo-hydraulic performance have been analyzed and discussed in
this study.
2. Model description
2.1. Physical model
The schematic diagram of the PTR with ribbed absorber tube is
presented in Fig. 1(a). The standard LS2 PTC [29] is applied in the
present work. Ribs are embedded and uniformly arranged on the inner
surface of the absorber tube. Parameters of LS2 PTC and ribs are listed
in Table 1. Six different rib arrangements, namely symmetrical clock-
wise arrangement of single inclined ribs (SCSIR), symmetrical antic-
lockwise arrangement of single inclined ribs (SASIR), parallel ar-
rangement of ribs (PR), symmetrical clockwise arrangement of double
inclined ribs (SCDIR), symmetrical anticlockwise arrangement of
double inclined ribs (SADIR) and circumferential arrangement of in-
clined ribs (CIR) are applied to investigate the effects on the
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of the PTR with ribbed absorber tube, (b) periodic calculation domains of different rib arrangements.
3
Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13
performance of PTR, as shown in Fig. 1(b). Although the structures of
the ribbed absorber tubes with different arrangements are too compli-
cated to be manufactured by traditional machining, they can be man-
ufactured by newly developed machining processes and technologies.
3-D printing is a potential technology for processing the ribbed tube at
experimental scale. And with the continuous development of these new
machining processes and technologies, the cost of manufacture will
become cheaper and cheaper. Thus, the manufacture of ribbed tubes
proposed in this study at a mass scale for industrial application may be
possible.
2.2. Mathematical model and boundary conditions
Since the Reynolds numbers in this study are larger than 10,000, the
flow and heat transfer processes are assumed to be steady-state and
turbulent. Realizable k-ε two-equation turbulence model is adopted
because of its superior performance for predicting strong streamline
curvature, vortices and rotation flow [56]. The three-dimensional
Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are applied to
govern the flow field, which are defined as below.
Continuity equation:
∂ (ρui )
=0
∂x i (1)
Momentum equation:
P. Liu, et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

Table 1
Parameters of LS2 PTC and ribs.
Parameters of LS2 PTC Full length of LS2 Inner diameter of absorber tube Outer diameter of absorber Inner diameter of glass Outer diameter of glass cover
PTC (L) (dri) tube (dro) cover (dgi) (dgo)

Value 7.8 m 66 mm 70 mm 109 mm 115 mm

Parameters of rib Length (l) Width (w) Height (δ) Pitch (p) Slant angle (β) Number of rib in circumference
(N)

Value 12 mm 4 mm 3 mm 15 mm 45° 12

∂ (ρui uj ) ∂P ∂ ⎛ ∂u ∂uj ⎞ 2 ∂u ∂ui ∂u ∂uj ⎞ ∂ui

=− + (μ + μt ) ⎛⎜ i + ⎟ − (μ + μt ) i δij Γ = − u i uj = μt ⎛⎜ i + ⎟
∂x i ∂x i ∂x j ⎜ ∂
⎝ jx ∂x i⎠ 3 ∂x i ∂x i ⎝ ∂x j ∂x i ⎠ ∂x i (6)
⎝
⎞ The governing equations are discretized by second order upwind
− ρu′i u′ j ⎟
⎠ (2) scheme, which is based on the finite volume method (FVM). Software
ANSYS Fluent 15.0 is employed to solve all the equations numerically.
Energy equation: The SIMPLE algorithm is selected to achieve the coupling between
velocity and pressure. To capture the high resolution of gradients in the
∂ (ρui T ) ∂ ⎛μ μ ∂T
= ⎜ + t⎞ ⎟ region near the tube wall, the enhanced wall treatment method is
∂x i ∂x i ⎝ Pr Prt ⎠ ∂x i (3) adopted. We consider the calculation to reach convergence when the
relative residuals are less than 10-4 for continuity equation and less than
Equation of Turbulent kinetic energy k
10-7 for the other equations.
∂ (ρui k ) ∂ ⎛⎛ μt ⎞ ∂k ⎞ Considering the limited computing resources, periodic boundary
= ⎜ μ +
⎜ ⎟ + Γ − ρε
⎟
conditions with two repeat units in flow direction are adopted in this
∂x i ∂x i ⎝ ⎝ σk ⎠ ∂x i ⎠ (4)
study. Thus the length of the computational domain is 30 mm, as the
Equation of turbulent energy dissipation ε pitch of the rib arrangement is 15 mm listed in Table 1. The periodic
computational domains of different rib arrangements are presented in
∂ (ρui ε ) ∂ ⎛⎛ μt ⎞ ∂ε ⎞ ε2 Fig. 2(a). The cross-section of a solar PTR and the corresponding
= ⎜ μ +
⎜ ⎟ + c1 Γε − ρc2
⎟
thermal network are displayed in Fig. 2(b) and (d). The boundary
∂x i ∂x i ⎝ ⎝ σε ⎠ ∂x i ⎠ k + νε (5)
conditions in this study are defined as:
where u, ρ, P and T are the velocity component, density, pressure and
temperature of fluid, respectively. μ and μt represent the viscosity and (1) Heat transfer fluid (HTF)
turbulent viscosity. Pr, Prt, σk and σε are the Prandtl number and Prandtl
numbers for T, k and ε. Γ is the generation of turbulence kinetic energy, Syltherm-800 [30] is selected as the HTF in this study, whose
which is given by: temperature-dependent properties are defined as formulas below,

Fig. 2. Cross-section of the PTR and the corresponding thermal network.

4
P. Liu, et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

where T is the HTF temperature in K. the wind velocity generally ranges from 1 to 4.5 m/s and the effect of
wind velocity on thermal performance of PTR is limited. Thus, a
ρ = −6.0616 × 10−4T 2 − 4.1535 × 10−1T + 1.1057 × 103 (7)
moderate wind velocity of 2.5 m/s is selected in this study.
cp = 1.7080T + 1.1078 × 103 (8)
2.3. Parameter definitions
λ = - 5.7534 × 10−10T 2 − 1.8752 × 10−4T + 1.9002 × 10−1 (9)
The Reynolds number (Re) is calculated as:
μ = 6.6720 × 10−13T 4 − 1.5660 × 10−9T 3 + 1.3882 × 10−6T 2
ρuinlet dri
− 5.5412 × 10−4T + 8.4866 × 10−2 (10) Re =
μ (13)
The inlet temperature of the HTF is set to 400 K, and the mass flow
rate of the HTF ranges from 1.14 to 11.40 kg/s, with the Reynolds where μ is the viscosity of HTF and uinlet is the average velocity at the
number ranging from 10,000 to 100,000. inlet, which is defined as follow:
4ṁ
(2) Absorber tube and ribs uinlet =
ρπdri2 (14)

The materials of the absorber tube and ribs are stainless steel, and where ṁ is the mass flow rate.
its thermal conductivity is 25 Wm−1 K−1. The surfaces of ribs and the The average heat transfer coefficient (h) and average Nusselt
absorber tube inner wall are set as no-slip boundary condition. A non- number (Nu) are determined by the following equations. In where the
uniform heat flux according to Mwesigye’s work [57], which is shown average heat flux (q) and average temperature (Tw) on the absorber
in Fig. 2(c), is loaded on the absorber tube outer wall by user defined tube inner wall are obtained from the simulated results, respectively.
function (UDF). The absorber tube outer wall is selectively coated with h = q/(Tw − Tf ) (15)
the temperature-dependent emissivity of the coating formulated as Eq.
(11) [32], where T is the local temperature of the absorber tube outer Nu = hdri / λ (16)
wall in K.
Tf and λ are the mean temperature and the thermal conductivity of
ξ = 0.000327T − 0.065971 (11) HTF, respectively.
The friction factor (f), which is determined from pressure drop per
(3) Vacuum unit distance in the flow direction, is calculated as:
2ΔPL dri
Discrete Ordinates (DO) radiation model is applied to simulate the f= 2
ρuinlet (17)
radiation heat transfer through the annular space.

(4) Glass cover 2.4. Grid system and independence test

The material of glass cover is Pyrex with a thermal conductivity of
1.2 Wm−1 K−1 and an emissivity of 0.89. A mixed boundary condition
of convection and radiation is applied on the outer wall of the glass
cover. The convection heat transfer coefficient based on the assumption
of uniform convection boundary condition [58], which is defined as Eq.
(12), is adopted, and the radiation between the glass cover outer surface
and the sky is calculated according to Stefan-Boltzmann law. The am-
bient temperature and the sky temperature applied in this study are
298 K and 290 K, respectively, with the sky temperature being 8 K lower
than the ambient temperature [59].
−0.42
h w = 4V w0.58 dgo
(12)
The three-dimensional grid model for computational domain is
generated by using software Gambit 2.4.6, as shown in Fig. 3. To ensure
that y+ less than 1 and guarantee calculation accuracy, The mesh is
highly refined near the absorber tube inner wall and the rib surface. To
test the accuracy of the numerical simulations, four grid models are
used in this study to perform the grid independence test. The results
listed in Table 2 indicate that the grid model 3 with 1,511,447 cells is
sufficiently dense for simulations, with the deviations of variables
limited in 2.5%.
3. Model validation

where Vw is the wind speed and dgo is the outer diameter of the glass The Gnielinski correlation [61] for the Nusselt number, the Petu-
cover. According to Xiong’s research [60], in actual working conditions, khov’s correlation [61] and Blasius correlation [62] for friction factor,

Fig. 3. Grid system, (a) lateral view, (b) axial section view, (c) cross sectional view.

5
P. Liu, et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

Table 2 turbulence and are expressed as percent, are displayed in Fig. 7. It is

Mesh independence test. found that the turbulence intensities in all the ribbed PTRs are higher
Working conditions: ṁ = 1.14 kg/s, Re = 10,000, receiver with RVG-C tube than that in the PTR with plain tube. In addition, the SADIR obtains the
highest turbulence intensity, while the PR obtains the lowest turbulence
Model 1 2 3 4 intensity in these six ribbed PTRs, indicating that the mixing of fluid in
the SADIR is much better than that in the PR. The levels of turbulence
Grid number 369,347 712,506 1,511,447 2,247,885
Nu 357.2938 381.5488 418.8615 421.3185 intensity in the SCSIR and SASIR are basically the same due to their
f 0.201914 0.226622 0.238008 0.232202 similar flow field.
Average temperature of absorber 446.8052 443.9128 439.818 439.5768
tube inner wall Tw (K)
4.2. Thermal performance
Maximum temperature of 495.6196 488.7441 480.9703 480.518
absorber tube inner wall
Tmax (K) Temperature distribution of the absorber tube is one of the key
NS,en 0.2797 0.2752 0.2728 0.2725 properties of PTR. Figs. 8 and 9 show the temperature distributions in
qloss/L (W/m) 40.1671 38.0769 36.3992 36.2846 the cross section and on the absorber tube inner surfaces of the en-
hanced PTRs and PTR with plain tube at Re = 20,000, respectively. It is
clear that the PTR with plain tube suffers from a high peak temperature,
which are defined as Eqs. (18)–(20), are applied to validate the relia-
which may cause degradation of the HTF. In addition, a very large
bility of the numerical model in this study. The comparisons between
temperature difference between the upper and lower halves of the ab-
the simulated results and correlations are displayed in Fig. 4. The si-
sorber tube is observed, which induces large thermal stress and thus
mulated results show good agreement with the correlations, within
reduces the life time of the PTR. Compared to the PTR with plain tube,
8.7% for the Nusselt number and 3.8% for the friction factor, respec-
the enhanced PTRs with different ribbed absorber tubes obtain much
tively. In addition, comparisons of temperature gain and collector ef-
lower peak temperatures as well as much lower temperature gradients
ficiency of a smooth receiver against the experimental data from Dudley
in the absorber tube under the same conditions, which contribute to
et al. [63] are conducted to confirm the reliability of the numerical
significant improvement in thermal and mechanical performance of the
model in this study. The operating conditions for cases in Dudley’s
PTR. Furthermore, among the enhanced PTRs, the SADIR and SCSIR
experiment are listed in Table 3, and the results are displayed in Fig. 5.
achieve the lowest and the second lowest temperatures in the absorber
It is observed that the simulated results agree well with the experi-
tube, respectively, as the fluids are guided to flush the lower half of the
mental data, within ± 4.7% and ± 1.5% deviations for temperature
absorber tube, in where the high-density heat flux is loaded. Moderate
gain and collector efficiency, respectively. It is needed to note that the
temperature performance is formed in the SASIR, SCDIR and CIR.
rim angle of the non-uniform heat flux in numerical model is 80°, while
However, because that no longitudinal vortex is generated in the tube
it is 70° in Dudley’s experiment. However, according to He’s research
flow, the PR suffers from insufficient mixing of the fluids and obtains
[64], the effect of rim angle on temperature gain is extremely limited
the highest absorber tube temperature.
when rim angle ranges from 30° to 90°. Therefore, the model used in the
Fig. 10(a) and (b) illustrate the local temperatures of the fluid in
present work is considered to be reliable and feasible.
axial section along with the x-direction and y-direction, respectively. It
(f /8)(Re − 1000) Pr is apparent from the figures that the temperatures of the fluid near the
Nu =
1 + 12.7(f /8)0.5 (Pr 2/3 − 1) (18) tube wall in the enhanced PTRs are significantly reduced, compared to
the PTR with plain tube. In addition, thinner thermal boundary layers,
f = (0.790 ln Re − 1.64)−2 (19) which mean the better heat transfer performance, are obtained in the
f = 0.3164Re−0.25 enhanced PTRs. From Fig. 10(b), it is observed that the temperatures of
(20)
the fluid near the lower half of the absorber tube, in where high heat
flux from concentrated solar radiation is located, is higher than those of
4. Results and discussion the fluid near the upper half. Moreover, the temperatures near the
lower half of the absorber tube in the enhanced PTRs except the PR are
4.1. Flow structure lower than that of the PTR with plain tube, while the temperatures near
the upper half perform the opposite trend. This attributes to the long-
Fig. 6 shows the tangential velocity vectors in cross-sectional planes itudinal vortexes generated in the enhanced PTRs except the PR, which
at Re = 20,000 for different rib configurations. Due to the guiding of contribute to a more sufficient mixing of the fluid and thus a more
the inclined ribs, the fluid is deflected from the main flow direction and
different types of vortex or longitudinal swirl flows are generated in the
SCSIR, SASIR, SCDIR, SADIR and CIR. While in the PR, there is no
vortex observed because that the ribs are arranged parallel to the
mainstream. In the SCSIR, a pair of counter-rotating vortexes, which is
similar to the optimal flow field obtained by Liu et al. [65] for the PTR,
is generated. The fluid is directed to flush the inner wall of the lower
half of the absorber tube, and then flows back along the wall to the
upper half. A pair of vortexes, which rotate in the opposite direction to
the vortexes in the SCSIR, is also formed in the SASIR. The flow
structures of two large vortexes along with several small vortexes near
the absorber tube inner wall are generated in both the SCDIR and
SADIR, and the large vortexes in the SCDIR and SADIR have the same
direction of rotation as that in the SASIR and SCSIR, respectively. Due
to all the ribs are tilted in one direction, a single large and strong vortex
is formed in the PR. It indicates that the arrangement of ribs in the
ribbed tube has significant effects on the flow patterns.
The turbulence intensities in cross-sectional planes at Re = 20,000 Fig. 4. Validation of heat transfer and fluid friction factor performance for
for different rib configurations, which represent the strength of the smooth PTR.

6
P. Liu, et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

Table 3 absorber tube inner wall. It is clear that compared to the PTR with plain
Validation of heat gain and collector efficiency. tube, the peak temperatures of the absorber tube inner wall are sig-
case DNI (W/ Wind speed Air temperature Flow rate (L/ Tinlet (°C) nificantly reduced in enhanced PTR, especially at low Reynolds
m2) (m/s) (°C) min) number. Moreover, the SCSIR and SADIR obtain the lowest peak tem-
perature. Therefore, the heat loss through radiant heat transfer between
1 933.7 2.6 21.2 47.70 102.2
absorber tube and glass cover is dramatically reduced at low Reynolds
2 968.2 3.7 22.4 47.78 151.0
3 982.3 2.5 24.3 49.10 197.5
number, as shown in Fig. 11(b). Compared to the PTR with plain tube,
4 909.5 3.3 26.2 54.70 250.7 the reductions in peak temperature and heat loss can reach up to ap-
5 937.9 1.0 28.8 55.50 297.8 proximately 177 °C and 80.1%. However, it must be especially point out
6 880.6 2.9 27.5 55.60 299.0 that when Reynolds number over 40,000, the heat losses of the en-
7 920.9 2.6 29.5 56.80 379.5
hanced PTRs are even larger than that of the PTR with plain tube. There
8 903.2 4.2 31.1 56.30 355.9
are two reasons that contribute to this phenomenon. On the one hand,
the reduction in peak temperature, which is located in the lower half of
the absorber tube, decreases with the Reynolds number, as shown in
Fig. 11(a). And the reduction in heat loss through the lower half of the
absorber tube consequently decreases with Reynolds number. On the
other hand, the temperatures in the upper half of the absorber tube in
the enhanced PTRs are higher than that in the PTR with plain tube, as
shown in Fig. 10(b) above. Heat losses through the upper half of the
absorber tube in the enhanced PTRs are consequently higher than that
in the PTR with plain tube and dominate the total heat loss at high
Reynolds number. Therefore, the enhanced PTRs are not suitable for
application at high Reynolds number.
The circumferentially-average heat flux (qcir), temperature (Tcir) and
Nusselt number (Nucir) on the absorber tube inner wall are displayed in
Fig. 12(a)–(c). It is observed that the heat fluxes of the enhanced PTRs
are slightly lower than that of the PTR with plain tube as the presence
of the ribs increases the area of the inner wall of the absorber tube.
From Fig. 12(b), it is clear that compared to the PTR with plain tube,
the temperatures of the enhanced PTRs in the area with θ ranging from
Fig. 5. Validation for temperature gain and collector efficiency against ex- 45° to 315° are dramatically reduced, and the circumferential tem-
perimental data.
perature gradients in the absorber tube are also apparently decreased
which are good for improving thermal performance of PTR. Conse-
uniform temperature distribution. quently, the Nusselt numbers of the enhanced PTRs in this area (ap-
Temperature of the absorber tube is the key factor affecting heat proximate from 45° to 315°) are much higher than that of the PTR with
loss performance in PTR. Fig. 11(a) shows the peak temperatures of the plain tube, as shown in Fig. 12(c).

Fig. 6. Flow field in cross-sectional plane of the enhanced PTRs.

7
P. Liu, et al.
Fig. 7. Turbulence intensity in cross-sectional plane of the enhanced PTRs.
Fig. 8. Temperature distributions in the cross sections of the enhanced PTRs and PTR with plain tube at Re = 20,000.
Fig. 13(a) and (b) illustrate local Nusselt numbers along the flow
direction at Re = 20,000 and Nusselt numbers versus the Reynolds
number, respectively. The local Nusselt numbers of the enhanced PTRs
change periodically along the flow direction and are larger than that of
the PTR with plain tube. Compared to the PTR with plain tube, the
enhanced PTRs obtain 4.2–220.7% enhancement in Nusselt number. In
addition, the SADIR and SCSIR gain the highest and the second highest
Nusselt number, which are about 1.58–3.21 and 1.41–2.98 times that of
the PTR with plain tube, respectively. However, the PR obtains the
worst thermal performance among the enhanced PTRs.
4.3. Flow resistance
Considering that flow resistance is an important parameter related
to operating costs of the PTR, Fig. 14(a) and (b) display the friction
factors and pumping work of the enhanced PTRs and the PTR with plain
tube versus Reynolds number. Among the six enhanced PTRs, the
SCDIR and SADIR have basically the same friction factor or pumping
8
Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13
work, which is the largest and approximate 10.13–12.34 times that of
the PTR with plain tube, while the PR obtains the lowest friction factor,
about 1.72–2.45 times that of the PTR with plain tube. According to the
flow resistance from high to low, the order is SCDIR/SADIR > SCSIR/
SASIR > CIR > PR > Plain tube. Moreover, the pumping works of
enhanced PTRs increase sharply with the Reynolds number and is too
large to be suitable for practical applications at high Reynolds number.
4.4. The overall thermo-hydraulic performance
Performance evaluation criteria (PEC) [66], which reflects the en-
hancement in heat transfer performance under given pumping power,
and modified thermal efficiency [67] which includes the pumping
power, are applied to evaluate the overall thermal–hydraulic perfor-
mance. They are defined in Eq. (21) and (22), respectively.
Nu/ Nu 0
PEC =
(f / f0 )1/3 (21)
P. Liu, et al.
Fig. 9. Temperature distributions on the absorber tube inner surfaces of the enhanced PTRs and PTR with plain tube at Re = 20,000.
Qu̇ − Ẇ p
ηth, m =
Aa Ib
Fig. 15(a) and (b) show the PEC values and modified thermal effi-
ciencies versus Reynolds number, respectively. It is observed that both
the PEC values and modified thermal efficiencies of the enhanced PTRs
decrease with the Reynolds number. When Reynolds number over
about 30,000, PEC values of all the enhanced PTRs are lower than 1,
which means no overall heat transfer enhancement. When Reynolds
number over about 40,000, modified thermal efficiencies of all the
enhanced PTRs are lower than that of the PTR with plain tube. Both of
them indicate the enhanced PTRs are not suitable for application at
high Reynolds number. Moreover, the SCSIR and SADIR obtain the best
overall thermal-hydraulic performance at low Reynolds number, and
the maximum enhancement in modified thermal efficiency is approxi-
mately 1.9%.
4.5. Comparisons with published studies
Comparisons with previous published heat transfer enhancement
techniques for PTR are displayed in Fig. 16. From Fig. 16(a), when
Reynolds number is lower than 20,000, the SCSIR ribbed tube obtains
Fig. 10. Local temperatures of the fluid in the axial sections along the x-direction (a) and y-direction (b) at Re = 20,000.
Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13
the best heat transfer performance; when Reynolds number is larger
(22) than 20,000, the heat transfer performance of the SCSIR ribbed tube is
better than longitudinal fin [40], unilateral longitudinal vortex gen-
erator [36], conical strip inserts [31] and asymmetric outward convex
corrugated tube [43], but worse than other heat transfer enhancement
techniques. From Fig. 16(b), the SCSIR ribbed tube has a smaller flow
resistance than wall detached twisted tape inserts [27] conical strip
inserts [31], centrally placed perforated plate inserts [32] and metal
foams [33], but lager pressure drop than other heat transfer enhance-
ment techniques. As a result, when the Reynolds number is lower than
20,000, the SCSIR ribbed tube can obtain a better overall heat transfer
performance (PEC value) than other heat transfer enhancement tech-
niques except for rod inserts [28]; however, when the Reynolds number
over 20,000, the PEC value of SCSIR ribbed tube is lower than most
other techniques, as shown in Fig. 16(c). Hence, the enhanced PTR with
ribbed tube is only suitable for application at lower Reynolds number.
5. Conclusions
Effects of six different rib arrangements on the thermal-hydraulic
and thermodynamic performance of a PTR with ribbed absorber tube
are numerically investigated in this study. Details of flow structure,
9
P. Liu, et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

Fig. 11. Variables over the Reynolds number, (a) peak temperatures of the absorber tube inner wall; (b) heat loss per unit length.

Fig. 12. Circumferentially-average variables on the absorber tube inner wall of the enhanced PTRs and the PTR with plain tube, (a) heat flux; (b) temperature; (c)
Nusselt number.

thermal performance, and flow resistance and overall thermo-hydraulic
performance are analyzed and the best flow pattern for enhancing the
performance of the PTR is obtained and achieved in this study. Based on
the results and analyses, conclusions can be drawn as follows:
(1) Rib arrangements perform significant influence on flow structure,
turbulence intensity and flow resistance in PTR with ribbed tube.
Except that no vortex flow is formed in the PR, different flow pat-
terns with different types of vortex or longitudinal swirl flows are
generated in the other five enhanced PTRs. A pair of counter-
rotating vortexes, which are similar to the optimal flow field ob-
tained by optimization in literature [65], are generated in the SCSIR
and SADIR. According to the turbulence intensity and flow re-
sistance from high to low, the order is SCDIR/SADIR > SCSIR/
SASIR > CIR > PR > Plain tube.
(2) Compared to the PTR with plain tube, the enhanced PTRs with
different ribbed tubes can significantly reduce the temperature and
circumferential temperature gradient in absorber tube and conse-
quently reduce the heat loss and improve the thermal mechanical
performance. In addition, the enhanced PTRs obtain apparently

10
P. Liu, et al. Applied Thermal Engineering 156 (2019) 1–13

Fig. 13. (a) Local Nusselt numbers along the flow direction at Re = 20,000; (b) Nusselt numbers versus the Reynolds number.

Fig. 14. Friction factors and pumping work of the enhanced PTRs and the PTR with plain tube versus Reynolds number, (a) friction factor; (b) pumping work.

Fig. 15. The overall thermo-hydraulic performance versus Reynolds number, (a) performance evaluation criteria (PEC); (b) modified thermal efficiency.

enhancement in Nusselt number with approximately 1.04–3.21
times that of the PTR with plain tube. Among six enhanced PTRs,
the SADIR and SCSIR gain the best and the second best thermal
performance with maximum reductions in peak temperature and
heat loss reaching to approximately 177 °C and 80.1%.
(3) Both PEC values and modified thermal efficiencies of the enhanced
PTRs decrease with the Reynolds number, which are ranged in
0.62–1.56 and 0.70–0.73, respectively. Considering the heat loss
and overall thermo-hydraulic performance (PEC and modified
thermal efficiency), the enhanced PTRs achieve great improve-
ments at low Reynolds number but are not suitable for application
at high Reynolds number due to their poor performance. The SCSIR
and SADIR obtain the best overall thermal-hydraulic performance
at low Reynolds number with the maximum enhancement in
modified thermal efficiency being approximately 1.9%.

11
P. Liu, et al.
Fig. 16. Comparisons with previous published studies.
Acknowledgment
The work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51736004), the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (51376069) and the National Natural
Science Foundation of China Youth Project (51606073).
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