SUMMARY

Concentrated solar power is one of the most promising alternative sources of large- scale energy production with numerous applications including production of electricity, renewable fuel, and production of heat for industrial processes. High temperature granular media were characterized for solar thermal energy transport and storage. The characterization included three steps: (1) measurement of flow properties of granular media at different temperatures, including particle shape and size, elastic properties, coefficient of restitution, and coefficient of static friction; (2) performance of experiments using a range of temperatures in different flow geometries, including flow on incline plane and flow on stair geometry; and (3) assessment of flow and heat transfer models using the measured temperature dependent flow and thermophysical properties. The Lagrangian discrete element method was used to model granular flows and a Eulerian multiphase model was used for heat transfer modeling. The flow and heat transfer models were compared with experimental results to validate and inform the design of different solar particle heating receivers and reactors.