Numerical simulation of hot oil thermal storage

Abstract

This study was motivated by the need for finling a model to simulate the thermal performance of a hot oil storage tank, and to recommend experiments that will measure performance of an actual operating system. The model is developed for the case when the storage material properties are temperature dependent. The numerical simulation techniques developed allow the prediction of the transient and quasisteady-state behavior of the thermal storage system for either an energy charging or discharging process with a variable mass flow rate.