Numerical Analysis of Influence of Angle of Attack on the Performance of Solar Air Heater Having Cylindrical Jet Impingement Plate

In the global energy transition, solar energy is among the briskly expanding renewable energy sources. In terms of solar energy utilization, solar air heater (SAH) with jet impingement is one of the promising techniques that enhances the thermo-hydraulic performance of the system covering a wide range of applications, including space heating and agricultural drying. Previous studies analyzed the performance of SAH using straight cylindrical jet; however, the influence of angle of attack still remains the research gap. Keeping in this view, the present study aims is to investigate such effect by varying angle of attack (α) in the range from 45°-75° on the thermo-hydraulic performance of SAH having cylindrical jet through numerical analysis. A 3D CFD model is developed and simulated considering mass flow rate range of 0.0104-0.0524 kg/s which altered Reynolds number (Re) from 3500-17500 while maintaining a solar radiation of 1000 W/m
²
. In order to visualize the flow physics, pressure, velocity streamlines, and turbulence kinetic energy contours are presented and discussed. The simulation results show that an α influence the thermohydraulic performance of SAH using cylindrical jet impingement significantly and is found as 2.548 at an α of 75° and Re of 17500.