Numerical and experimental investigation on thermal stratification characteristics affected by the baffle plate in thermal storage tank

The aim of this study was to analyze the thermal stratification characteristics affected by the central hole-type baffle plate in heat storage tank. The response surface method was used to optimize the structure parameters. Experiments were conducted to investigate the thermal stratification characteristics of a hot water storage tank with a baffle plate during the charging process. The temperature field and flow field inside the storage tank were calculated by numerical simulation, and the effects of different structural parameters on the mixing number, stratification number, and the Richardson number were analyzed. The results showed that the three evaluation indices correspond to different optimal parameter combinations. The interaction factors that have a crucial influence on the three evaluation indices are baffle aperture and inlet velocity, baffle position and inlet velocity, and baffle position and baffle aperture. Taking the Richardson number with the highest precision of the regression model as the optimization objective, the optimal parameter combination optimized by the expected function is a baffle position of 0.79, aperture of 0.80, and inlet velocity of 0.2 m/s.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the thermal stratification characteristics in a hot water storage tank with a central hole-type baffle plate. Through experiments and numerical simulation, it identified that baffle aperture and position, as well as inlet velocity, are crucial factors affecting the stratification. The optimized parameter combination was found to be a baffle position of 0.79, aperture of 0.80, and inlet velocity of 0.2 m/s based on the Richardson number optimization.