International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer最新文献

{"title":"Thermal-magnetic effects in the SiC crystal growth by top-seeded solution growth method with induction heating","authors":"Yao Yang ,&nbsp;Zaoyang Li ,&nbsp;Junlan Wang ,&nbsp;ChongChong Qi ,&nbsp;Guanghui Wu ,&nbsp;Quanzhi Wang ,&nbsp;Lijun Liu ,&nbsp;Tao Wang ,&nbsp;Yiqi Peng ,&nbsp;Dongli Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110624","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110624","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Induction heating is commonly used in the top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) of SiC crystals to provide heating power and at the same time generates Lorentz force in the solution, namely the thermal effect and the magnetic effect. Therefore, studying the thermal-magnetic effects is critical to minimize the system power consumption and improve the crystal growth simultaneously. In this study, a global numerical model was established to calculate the induction heating, heat transfer, solution flow and carbon transport in the SiC crystal growth by TSSG method. The combined thermal-magnetic effects were systematically studied to find out optimal heating parameters that can simultaneously utilize both effects. The results indicate that excessively high or low frequencies increase the total heating power consumption and reduce the induction heating efficiency. The optimal frequency range is 1–2 kHz in this study, for which the minimum total power consumption is 34.4 kW and the maximum heating efficiency is 82.0%. The Lorentz force in the solution changes significantly with the increase of frequency, and thus influences the crystal growth parameters. It's found that the growth rate is relatively high and uniform at 1–2 kHz. Therefore, the thermal-magnetic effects can be utilized simultaneously to optimize the SiC crystal growth.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110624"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146073834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating the effect of nitrogen doping on the buckling process of carbon nanotubes using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation","authors":"Linzhi Yin ,&nbsp;Xin Sun ,&nbsp;Hesam Naseri ,&nbsp;S. Mohammad Sajadi ,&nbsp;Mustafa Bayram ,&nbsp;Majed M. Alghamdi","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110572","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110572","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study uniquely investigated the impact of nitrogen doping on the mechanical stability, structural deformation, and energetic properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, systematically varying nitrogen doping concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%). Unlike prior studies that mainly focused on electronic or catalytic effects, this work provides new atomic-level insights into how nitrogen doping alters the mechanical response of CNTs during buckling. We analyzed the evolution of kinetic energy, potential energy, the center of mass (COM), mean-squared displacement (MSD), and interaction energy throughout the simulations. Our results demonstrate that increased nitrogen doping led to higher atomic mobility and structural disorder, as indicated by elevated kinetic energy and MSD values both before and after buckling. The potential energy profiles showed that nitrogen-rich nanotubes adopted lower-energy configurations, reflecting diminished structural stability. COM analysis revealed that higher doping levels hindered global structural shifts during deformation, indicating that buckling occurred through localized, severe kinks rather than uniform bending. Contrary to expectations, interaction energy remained largely unaffected by nitrogen doping, suggesting that doping primarily affected structural dynamics rather than atomic interaction energy. These findings confirmed that nitrogen doping destabilized the CNT structure, increasing susceptibility to mechanical deformation. This comprehensive exploration of mechanical and dynamic effects distinguished our work, offering critical insights for designing nitrogen-doped CNTs in nanotechnology applications where mechanical integrity is pivotal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110572"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146073835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mean velocity profiles and wall shear stress of Herschel–Bulkley fluids in pipe flow: CFD modeling and experimental validation","authors":"Buse Nur Alyaz,&nbsp;Mehmet Sorgun","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110645","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110645","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurately estimating turbulent flow behavior for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids is crucial for optimizing energy efficiency and the design of industrial pipeline systems. This study investigates the mean velocity profiles and wall shear stress of turbulent pipe flows to improve the reliability of flow predictions for practical engineering applications. Extensive experimental work was conducted at the Izmir Katip Celebi University flow loop, using xanthan gum (XG) and partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (PHPA) solutions used exensively in petroleum and chemical industries, covering a Reynolds number range of 4 × 10³ to 3.2 × 10⁴. The Herschel–Bulkley model was identified as the most suitable rheological model for describing the flow behavior of XG and PHPA solutions. Numerical simulations based on two widely used computational approaches such as the finite element method (FEM) and the finite volume method (FVM) were employed to solve the governing flow equations, and their predictions were systematically compared with experimental measurements for both smooth and rough pipe surfaces. The results demonstrate that the numerical models predict wall shear stress and velocity distributions with significantly improved accuracy compared to commonly used empirical correlations, particularly for shear-thinning fluids. Increased wall roughness reduced near-wall velocities and shifted the mean velocity profile, while stronger shear thinning caused significant deviations from Newtonian turbulent behavior. This work combines experimental and numerical analyses to overcome the limitations of traditional correlations, offering a more reliable framework for predicting turbulent non-Newtonian pipe flows.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110645"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146073843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Insight into the leakage-phase change- diffusion characteristics from a small hole in buried liquid ammonia pipelines based on soil porous media modeling: A numerical study","authors":"Fang Rao ,&nbsp;Changjun Li ,&nbsp;Caigong Zhang ,&nbsp;Donghao Yang ,&nbsp;Chao Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110630","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110630","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a critical hydrogen carrier, ammonia is gaining increasing attention in the global energy transition and is primarily transported by pipeline in liquid form. If a leak occurs during pipeline operation, liquid ammonia will rapidly flash-vaporize as atmospheric pressure is considerably lower than the operating pressure, leading to a decrease in ambient temperature. The vaporized ammonia first permeates through the soil before overcoming surface resistance to diffuse into the air. This process not only endangers the safety of liquid ammonia transportation but also imposes severe environmental hazards. However, current research mainly focuses on the leakage and diffusion characteristics of liquid ammonia in air. Until now, the characteristics of liquid ammonia leakage, the phase change of liquid ammonia in porous soil, and the coupled diffusion in soil and air remain poorly understood. In this work, we develop a CFD model based on the Eulerian model, the porous media model, the Lee model, and the species transport model to reveal the leakage-phase change-diffusion characteristics. We comprehensively investigate the distribution of volume fraction, temperature, and pressure under pipeline operating pressure of 3.5 MPa, ambient temperature of 293.15 K, and a leak hole of 30 mm. Moreover, we discuss the effects of soil properties, wind speed, and ambient temperature on the leakage-phase change-diffusion characteristics. The results indicate that three distinct regions are formed after the liquid ammonia leakage: a liquid region near the leakage source, a transitional vaporization region in the soil, and a dense gas cloud dispersion region in the air. Temperature evolution involves an initial flash evaporation-dominated stage, followed by a dynamic equilibrium stage. Soil resistance is negatively correlated with both the diffusion rate into the air and the temperature drop rate. The wind speed mainly affects the diffusion pattern of vapor ammonia in the air. The minimum temperatures under different ambient temperatures eventually stabilize at similar steady-state values.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110630"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146073992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development of a chevron–air jet injection strategy for improving fuel mixing mechanism in high-speed combustors","authors":"Zeineb Ben Houria ,&nbsp;Joy Djuansjah ,&nbsp;Ali I. Hameed ,&nbsp;Kamal Sharma ,&nbsp;Abdellatif M. Sadeq ,&nbsp;Mohamed Shaban ,&nbsp;Walid Aich ,&nbsp;Khalil Hajlaoui","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110728","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110728","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Efficient fuel–air mixing in supersonic combustors remains one of the key challenges in scramjet propulsion due to the extremely short residence time and the strong compressibility effects within the high-speed flow. This study numerically investigates the three-dimensional flow and mixing characteristics of a novel chevron annular injector integrated into a strut, operating under a Mach 2.2 crossflow with and without an internal air jet. Three chevron geometries (Chevron No.1, No.2, and No.3) were analyzed using high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to examine the effects of chevron depth and air jet interaction on jet penetration, vortex formation, shock structures, and overall mixing efficiency. The boundary conditions were defined by a static pressure of 100 kPa, a freestream temperature of 340 K, and a hydrogen injection total pressure ratio of 0.1. Results reveal that the inclusion of the internal air jet significantly enhances the mixing performance and flow uniformity while reducing total pressure loss compared to configurations without air injection. The air jet strengthens streamwise vortices, stabilizes the barrel shock, and increases shear-layer entrainment, leading to faster and more homogeneous hydrogen–air mixing. Among the investigated geometries, Chevron No.2 with internal air jet provides the optimal balance between effective mixing, controlled jet expansion, and minimal total pressure loss. The results confirm that the combined use of a chevron annular injector and an internal air jet presents a highly promising approach for achieving efficient fuel–air mixing in compact, high-performance scramjet combustors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110728"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A hybrid thermal management scheme for reducing thermal runaway risk in lithium-ion batteries","authors":"Tiancheng Ouyang ,&nbsp;Haoming Liang ,&nbsp;Zhiping Li ,&nbsp;Longde Su ,&nbsp;Zirui Wang ,&nbsp;Yong Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110729","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110729","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Battery thermal runaway is a major problem encountered in the development of electric vehicles. To reduce the risk of thermal runaway, a hybrid thermal management system is proposed in this paper, which effectively combines liquid cooling, aerogel, and composite phase change material. The reliability of the simulation model is verified by previous experiments. Compared with various schemes, this hybrid thermal management system utilizes aerogel to block the vast majority of heat, while the surrounding liquid and composite phase-change cooling absorb excess heat. This ensures superior cooling performance and enhanced thermal runaway suppression capabilities for the entire system. The maximum battery temperature is 307 K, which is 695 K lower than when no protective measures are taken. Finally, the influence of cooling water velocity and external convection heat transfer coefficient on cooling effect is analyzed. The results show that the hybrid thermal management system can also perform well in the environment of poor ventilation, and the optimal water velocity is 0.01 m/s.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110729"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147394760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of jet arrangement and impingement spacing on flow and tip-wall heat transfer in a two-pass sharp-turn cooling passage of turbine blade","authors":"Zhiqi Zhao ,&nbsp;Hongyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Dandan Qiu ,&nbsp;Guangchao Li","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110705","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110705","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To weaken the extreme thermal loads at the blade tip in gas turbines, the state-of-the-art tip cooling relies on serpentine cooling passages and tip bleed holes to reduce surface temperature. However, there are still issues of cracks and fractures at the blade tip during long-term operation. The present study proposes a novel cooling approach for the blade tip that involves impingement-film cooling near the sharp-turn region. For a two-pass cooling channel, the influence of impingement holes arrangement (<span><math><msub><mi>L</mi><mi>x</mi></msub><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>; <span><math><msub><mi>L</mi><mi>y</mi></msub><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>) and impingement plate-to-target spacing (<span><math><mi>H</mi><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>) on the flow and heat transfer near the sharp turn at different Reynolds numbers are investigated. The results indicate that the new configuration enhances the internal convective heat transfer and improves the effectiveness of film cooling. The temperature at the blade tip is significantly reduced compared with the conventional tip cooling structure. Among studied cases, Case 4 (<span><math><msub><mi>L</mi><mi>x</mi></msub><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>=2.25, <span><math><msub><mi>L</mi><mi>y</mi></msub><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>=2.4) achieves an optimal balance between internal heat transfer and external film cooling performance, which means that a sparser row of impingement holes helps to the heat transfer increment. As the impingement spacing (<span><math><mi>H</mi><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>) increases, the cooling effectiveness of the air impingement diminishes. At <span><math><mi>H</mi><mo>/</mo><mi>D</mi></math></span>=1.5, the heat transfer coefficient on the inner wall of the blade tip was enhanced by nearly threefold, while the temperature on the outer wall was reduced by about 16%. Although this configuration is accompanied by an increase in flow resistance, the performance evaluation criterion (PEC) still improved by 27%. The present proposed cooling structure can reduce blade tip temperature, offering novel ideals for enhancing heat transfer at blade tips.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110705"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147395322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bio-inspired dendritic ribs for enhanced heat transfer and reduced flow resistance in cooling channels of turbine blades","authors":"Jia-Yu Chen ,&nbsp;Ben-Xi Zhang ,&nbsp;Li-Qian Wang ,&nbsp;Yan-Ru Yang ,&nbsp;Xiao-Dong Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110677","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110677","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study introduces a bio-inspired dendritic rib design, developed through CFD simulations (<em>v</em>²<em>f</em> turbulence model, 6.8% deviation from experiments) in a rectangular ribbed channel across Reynolds numbers 20,000–80,000. The simulations were conducted in a rectangular channel with an aspect ratio of 2:1, which featured six rib configurations and used a 5.3 million-cell mesh. This mesh was validated by grid independence tests, which showed less than 1.0% variation in <em>Nu</em>/<em>Nu</em>₀ and <em>f</em>/<em>f</em>₀. The underlying mechanisms of the dendritic ribs are attributed to the generation of symmetric secondary vortices that intensify fluid mixing, the development of extended reattachment zones leading to a 10.40% to 25.23% increase in <em>Nu</em>/<em>Nu</em>₀ compared with transverse ribs, and the mitigation of friction losses with a 5.19% to 16.45% decrease in <em>f</em>/<em>f</em>₀ owing to optimized flow guidance. Among the tested configurations, the 30° dendritic rib achieves the best overall balance between heat transfer augmentation and pressure drop, yielding improvements of 49.9% and 32.97% in performance evaluation factors <em>OPT</em>₁ and <em>OPT</em>₂. Therefore, the results showed that a rib angle of <em>α</em> = 30° with a branch level of <em>n</em> = 1 was optimal for the biomimetic dendritic rib channels.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110677"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147395323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The thermal-hydraulic performance evaluation of a triangular groove duct with L-shaped baffles: Multi-objective optimization and numerical analysis","authors":"Recep Ekiciler ,&nbsp;Fatih Demir ,&nbsp;Orhan Kalkan","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110681","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110681","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Enhancing heat transfer efficiency is crucial for improving performance and reducing the energy consumption of thermal equipment in various industrial sectors. The emergence of passive enhancement methods, such as corrugated grooves, has improved convective heat transfer cost-efficiently. To this end, this study addresses the thermal and hydraulic performance of the baffle duct with numerical analysis and multi-objective optimization methods. The study is innovative in that it places movable L-shaped baffles inside the duct, which have their own internal connections and a connection to the grooved channel. L-shaped baffles have the ability to move at alpha angles (<em>α</em> = 30°, 60°, 90°) with the upper wall of the duct and at beta angles (<em>β</em> = 60°, 90°, 120°, 150°) with their internal connection points, which affect the thermal and hydraulic performance of the duct. Air, water, mono (GO/water), and tetra hybrid (Al₂O₃-Au-Ag-TiO₂/water) nanofluids are used as coolant fluids in the range of <em>Re</em> = 2500 to 3100. The coolant air and a baffle-less triangular grooved duct are used for comparison to evaluate the thermal and hydrodynamic performance in other cases. The results show that at <em>Re</em> = 2500, the baffled duct achieves a 65% higher <em>Nu</em> than the one without baffles. As <em>α</em> = 90° decreases to 30°, <em>Nu</em> increases by 12.85% and 12.11%, respectively. As <em>β</em> = 60° to 120° increases, <em>Nu</em> increases by 21.67%, while <em>f</em> increases by 59% from <em>β</em> = 90° to 120°. The highest performance evaluation criteria (PEC) is achieved at <em>β</em> = 90° and the lowest at <em>β</em> = 150°. The tetra hybrid nanofluid exhibits the highest <em>Nu</em> and <em>f</em> values across all <em>Re</em> ranges, demonstrating the most efficient cooling performance with a PEC value approximately 8% higher than that of water. Multi-objective optimization reveals that the combination of <em>α</em> = 30°, <em>β</em> = 35°, <em>Re</em> = 2500, and water is the most suitable design. Generally, thermal and hydraulic performance can be significantly improved by carefully selecting channel geometry and fluid properties.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110681"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147395328","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mathematical model and numerical analysis of uniform and axially graded volumetric solar receivers with radiation boundary condition","authors":"Fabrício J.C. Pena,&nbsp;Marcelo J.S. de Lemos","doi":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110670","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2026.110670","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants generate electricity by concentrating solar radiation onto a receiver, where a heat transfer fluid absorbs and transports thermal energy to a power cycle. Volumetric solar receivers (VSRs) have attracted attention due to their enhanced heat transfer characteristics and high-temperature capability, which contribute to improved overall system efficiency. Here, the performance of different VSR configurations is investigated numerically, focusing on both uniform and axially graded particle size distributions. Four configurations are analyzed: two with constant particle diameters of 1 mm and 3 mm, and two graded configurations in which the particle diameter varies linearly between these values along the flow direction, either increasing or decreasing. The numerical model employs the thermal non-equilibrium assumption and the Rosseland approximation to simulate radiative heat transfer within the porous medium. A radiation boundary condition was applied at the inlet to model the heat transfer, and verification against analytical solutions showed negligible discrepancies. The study analyzed the effects of different inlet velocities and porosities on these receivers. Results show that lower mass flow rates and porosities increase receiver temperatures. Configurations with the same inlet particle size display similar temperature profiles, with larger particles causing more pronounced differences. For smaller inlet particle sizes, graded configurations with increasing diameter achieve similar temperatures as the uniform case but with lower pressure drops. Moreover, decreasing particle sizes along the flow direction led to faster thermal equilibrium for higher porosities, allowing for more compact receiver designs. These findings provide insights for optimizing solar volumetric absorbers to enhance thermal efficiency in CSP applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":332,"journal":{"name":"International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer","volume":"172 ","pages":"Article 110670"},"PeriodicalIF":6.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147395410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}