SUMMARY

High-temperature granular flows for solar thermal energy storage and transport are considered for concentrated solar power applications using refractory ceramic particles. A series of experiments between ambient temperature and 800 °C is performed for different flow configurations. The flow configurations include external flows on inclined plane and stair step and internal flow between parallel plates. Flow properties up to 800 °C are measured, including particle shape and size distributions, elastic moduli, Poisson's ratio, coefficients of sliding and rolling friction, and coefficient of restitution. These properties are used as inputs to numerical flow models to predict performance. Predicted free surface velocities are compared to measured free surface velocities from PIV for Lagrangian and Eulerian multiphase flow models up to 800 °C. The results are compared to assess flow predictability and assess computation effort. The predicted velocities are directly integrated into heat and mass transfer models where measured and predicted surface temperatures for different flow models are compared using temperature-dependent thermophysical and radiative properties as inputs.