NUMERICAL-SIMULATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF THE KUWAIT EXPERIMENTAL SALT-GRADIENT SOLAR POND (KESGSP)

A one-dimensional transient mathematical model for predicting the thermal performance of the salt-gradient solar pond is developed and presented. The present model accounts for heat losses from the surface and bottom of the pond, surface evaporation, wind effect, load extraction, and variations of the brine physical properties with temperature and salinity. The boundary conditions are based on measured ambient and ground temperatures at Kuwait City. An implicit finite-difference scheme is used to solve the governing system of heat flux equations. The developed computer code is used to conduct a parametric study to determine the optimum thickness of both the gradient and the storage zones for the KESGSP. The study recommends optimum values of 1.3 and 1.4 m for the gradient and storage zones thickness. The effect of pond extracted loading is given and a comparison between the predicted results and the KESGSP preliminary measurements is presented.