Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LOW CARBON TECHNOLOGIES, cilt.21, ss.1-20, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
This research conducts an extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis aimed at optimising the geometric configuration of solar chimney power plants (SCPPs), with particular emphasis on the Manzanares pilot plant (MPP). The research analyses the effects of chimney diameter and divergent chimney design on system performance under steady-state conditions at 1000 W/m2 solar irradiance and 300 K ambient temperature. A validated three-dimensional CFD model with a 90° symmetry sector is developed in ANSYS FLUENT. The model is verified through mesh independence and benchmarked against experimental results, showing excellent agreement with measured power output and airflow velocity. The results demonstrate that chimney geometry is a dominant performance-governing factor in large-scale SCPPs. Increasing the chimney diameter up to 2.5 times the reference value enhances the power output by 97%, reaching approximately 110 kW; further enlargement leads to performance deterioration due to reduced pressure potential at the turbine. More importantly, the adoption of a divergent chimney configuration yields a substantial performance improvement. An optimal chimney exit-to-inlet area ratio (AR) of 4 increases the power output to 369.4 kW, corresponding to a 5.6-fold enhancement compared to the reference cylindrical chimney. At this optimal configuration, the maximum air velocity and mass flow rate reach 28.7 m/s and 2,137.8 kg/s, respectively. These findings demonstrate that multi-fold power enhancement can be achieved through aerodynamic optimisation of chimney geometry alone, without increasing chimney height, offering a practical, cost-effective, and structurally safer design pathway for future large-scale SCPP installations.