Comparative Study of Nusselt Number Correlations for Hitec Molten Salt

Abstract

Molten salt has been realized as a potential candidate as a clean non-pollutant heat transfer fluid for concentrated solar power plants because of its high heat capacity and broad ranges of operational temperatures. In this study, the Nusselt number of the commercially known Hitec molten salt is numerically assessed, using k-ε model turbulence model with non-equilibrium wall functions, for the ranges of 104-105 Reynolds number and 104-105 W/m2 uniform surface heat flux. Moreover, the present work is compared against previously published work with success. The proposed numerical model provides valuable guidelines for the development of heat exchanging systems.