Computational fluid dynamics analysis and geometric optimization of solar chimney power plants by using of genetic algorithm

Abstract

In this paper, a multi-objective optimization method is implemented by using of genetic algorithm techniques in order to determine optimum configuration of solar chimney power plant. The objective function which is simultaneously considered in the analysis is output power of the plant. Output power of the system is maximized. Design parameters of the considered plant include collector radius (Rc), collector height (Hc), chimney height (Ht), chimney radius (Rt) and heat flux ( ). The multi-objective optimization results show that there are a strong positive correlation between the chimney height and the output power, as well as a negative correlation between the solar collector radius and the output power. Also, it was concluded that, output power of the plant could be considerably increased with increasing solar chimney height while increasing collector radius could slightly reduce output power This study may be useful for the preliminary estimation of power plant performance and the power-regulating strategy option for solar chimney turbines.