The thermal behaviour of French water bodies: From ponds to Lake Geneva

The management of French freshwater bodies (lakes, reservoirs, ponds, etc.) needs to face the challenges imposed by the effects of climate change and by legal requirements to develop standards for water temperature and other physicochemical indicators. While 1D hydrodynamical models could be helpful in improving the knowledge of the thermal and hydrodynamic behaviour of French water bodies, the scarcity of data for calibration and validation, in addition to the unavailability of some forcing data, makes their application difficult for most French water bodies. In this article we explore an alternative statistical approach that takes advantage of the available data in order to inform future modelling applications. We used official monitoring data and satellite measurements to study the thermal characteristics of more than 400 French water bodies (depth: 1–310 m, surface area: 0.1–577 km², volume: 0.1–89,000 hm³). The objective was to identify the importance of size on their thermal behaviour. For this we analysed the annual temperature cycle, the summer temperature profiles and within-lake spatial variability. Together with size, geography and transparency determine the thermal behaviour of water bodies through complex interactions. As a result of the analysis we propose a classification of French water bodies as a function of depth and surface area that reflects the summer vertical temperature gradient and the processes influencing the deepening of the thermocline.     

Sensitivity analysis for thermocline thermal storage tank design

Concentrated solar power coupled with thermal energy storage is a promising approach for providing the world with clean, renewable, sustainable and cost-competitive power on a large scale. Thermocline thermal energy storage has been proposed as an efficient and cost-competitive alternative to the traditional two-tank design. The thermocline thickness is directly linked to the efficiency of the storage tank. Sensitivity analysis is thus applied to a model of the thermocline thickness to identify the parameters that influence it the most. Results indicate that the tank height along with the thermophysical properties of the solid filler material influence the tank efficiency the most, with fluid properties and having a secondary effect.     

Pebble bed-oil thermal energy storage for solar thermo-electric power systems

Results of a study to examine the operating characteristics of a 100 kWh thermal energy storage (TES) system suitable for solar thermo electric applications is described. The system chosen consisted of a pebble bed as the primary storage medium and oil as the heat transfer cum storage medium. The operating temperatures considered were between 230 and 250°C with a 20 deg C swing. A full-size unit consisting of a steel tank of volume 10 m³ with 50 mm pebbles, suitable instrumentation and facility for heating the oil was built. The important operating variables and characteristics of the system studied included the transient behaviour of the bed, namely the thermal wave front characteristics. Results of the theoretical analysis of the transient bed behaviour were compared with the experimental data on the wave front propogation characteristics and the comparisons are discussed. The uniformity of flow distribution is also examined.     

大型斜温层储热罐在火电厂灵活性调峰中的应用分析

以华能丹东电厂引进的大型斜温层储热罐为例,详细介绍了储热罐的原理、结构及实际应用情况。面对国内能源结构的深入调整,碳达峰、碳中和目标日益临近,火电调峰将成为常态,储热罐的应用及其与火电机组的有效配合,不但实现了热电解耦,有效增加了供热负荷,还为火电机组灵活性调峰创造了先机。实践表明,经过国产化及优化,储热罐有效蓄热量设计值5 040。0GJ,实测值5 324.7GJ,斜温层厚度设计值1.500m,实测值0.850m,丹东电厂通过储热罐的应用,在保证供暖的情况下,单机负荷率由20% 继续下降至12.85%（45MW）,并保持连续运行,创造了火电机组深度调峰的典范,验证了斜温层储热罐在火电厂深度调峰中的保低负荷供热以及顶尖峰压低谷的作用,为火电灵活性改造技术提供了切实可行的方案参考。     

Experimental research on thermal characteristics of a hybrid thermocline heat storage system

Considering the high-temperature thermal utilization of solar energy as the research background in this paper and focussing on the heat storage process, a kind of hybrid thermocline heat storage method in multi-scale structure and relevant experimental systems are designed by using the mixed molten nitrate salt as the heat storage medium and two representative porous materials, i.e. zirconium ball and silicon carbide (SiC) foam, as the heat storage fillers. The fluid flow and heat storage performance of molten salt in multi-scale structure are experimentally investigated. The results show that the theoretical heat storage efficiencies amongst the three experimental heat storage manners are less than 80% because of the existence of thermocline layers. Comparing to the single-phase molten salt heat storage, the two hybrid thermocline heat storage manners with porous fillers lead to a certain decrease in the effective heat storage capacity. The presence of porous fillers can also help to maintain the molten salt fluid as ideal gravity flow or piston flow and partially replace expensive molten salt. Therefore, it requires a combination of heat storage capacity and economical consideration for optimization design when similar spherical particles or foam ceramics are employed as the porous fillers.     

Methods to determine stratification efficiency of thermal energy storage processes - Review and theoretical comparison

This paper reviews different methods that have been proposed to characterize thermal stratification in energy storages from a theoretical point of view. Specifically, this paper focuses on the methods that can be used to determine the ability of a storage to promote and maintain stratification during charging, storing and discharging, and represent this ability with a single numerical value in terms of a stratification efficiency for a given experiment or under given boundary conditions. Existing methods for calculating stratification efficiencies have been applied to hypothetical storage processes of charging, discharging and storing, and compared with the rate of entropy production caused by mixing calculated for the same experiments. The results depict that only one of the applied methods is in qualitative agreement with the rate of entropy production, however, none of the applied methods is in agreement with the rate of entropy production and also able to distinguish between the entropy production caused by mixing and the entropy changes due to heat losses.     

Thermal analysis of solar thermal energy storage in a molten-salt thermocline

A comprehensive, two-temperature model is developed to investigate energy storage in a molten-salt thermocline. The commercially available molten salt HITEC is considered for illustration with quartzite rocks as the filler. Heat transfer between the molten salt and quartzite rock is represented by an interstitial heat transfer coefficient. Volume-averaged mass and momentum equations are employed, with the Brinkman-Forchheimer extension to the Darcy law used to model the porous-medium resistance. The governing equations are solved using a finite-volume approach. The model is first validated against experiments from the literature and then used to systematically study the discharge behavior of thermocline thermal storage system. Thermal characteristics including temperature profiles and discharge efficiency are explored. Guidelines are developed for designing solar thermocline systems. The discharge efficiency is found to be improved at small Reynolds numbers and larger tank heights. The filler particle size strongly influences the interstitial heat transfer rate, and thus the discharge efficiency.     

Water temperature as a hindrance,but not limiting factor for the survival of warm water invasive crayfish introduced in cold periods

The success of non-native species establishment depends on various abiotic and biotic factors that determine the outcome of an introduction event. Limiting temperature ranges have been studied for various non-native species; however, such previous assessments of species-specific temperature thresholds may be inadequate. Because several non-native crayfish species prefer warmer water temperatures, introductions were generally assumed to occur during preferable, warmer periods. However, despite the generality, traditionally considered ‘warm-water’ species are gradually appearing in new habitats, which were previously considered too cold for successful establishment. Newly discovered overwintering abilities of these species are likely related to the winter stratification in lentic ecosystems, which maintain tolerable conditions. To understand better the survivability of two such non-native species, red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii and marbled crayfish Procambarus virginalis individuals were abruptly subjected to a thermic shock which lowered the water temperature from 20 °C (room temperature) to 6 °C, 4 °C and 2 °C, thus mimicking the release by pet owners during various phases of winter. The survival rate and foraging activity were monitored for up to 98 days. Procambarus clarkii showed a considerable higher survival rate at low temperatures (4 °C, 2 °C) compared to that of P. virginalis with neither sex nor size differences evident. Our findings reveal the ability of warm water invaders to withstand a shock during introduction at low temperature periods without acclimation. Considering these newly discovered shifts in physiological limitations, particularly for the red swamp crayfish, this may indicate a higher threat for areas with colder conditions.     

Integral approximate solution for the charging process in stratified thermal storage tanks

This paper presents the approximate integral solutions to the one-dimensional model describing the charging process of stratified thermal storage tanks with fluid mixing at the inlet. The temperature is assumed to be a form of the Fermi–Dirac distribution function, which can be separated into two sets of cubic polynomials for the hot and cold sides of the thermal boundary layers. The proposed approximate integral solutions are compared with previous works on approximate analytic solutions and show reasonable agreement. This approach, however, benefits from reduced mathematical complexity as compared with the complicated solution form and unstable convergence of the series solution found in the previous analytic solutions. For the ideal case of no fluid mixing at the inlet, the thermocline thickness is proportional to the square root of time and reversely proportional to the flow rate. However, if the fluid is mixed perfectly in the region near inlet, the thermocline thickness could be thicker as the flow rate increases because of the increased mixing region caused by promoted flow mixing in this region. Thus the optimal flow rate depends on the relationship between the flow rate and the size of the mixing region.     

Molten-salt thermal energy storage in thermoclines under different environmental boundary conditions

Operation during the charge and discharge cycles of molten-salt thermoclines used for solar thermal energy storage depends strongly on the environmental boundary conditions to which the tanks are exposed. A comprehensive model which accounts for thermal transport in the molten-salt heat transfer fluid and the filler material in the tank is developed for exploring the effects of boundary conditions on thermocline performance. Heat loss from the tank under non-adiabatic boundary conditions is found to distort the temperature and salt flow distributions relative to the uniform conditions found in adiabatic thermoclines; as a result, the outflow temperature drops more rapidly in the former case. Such effects of non-adiabatic boundaries become insignificant at large salt-flow Reynolds numbers. As the Reynolds number increases beyond 250, the discharge efficiency of non-adiabatic thermoclines approaches that of the adiabatic counterparts. In the case of significant heat loss at the walls, the discharge efficiency of thermoclines increases with increasing Reynolds number, a trend that is opposite to that in adiabatic thermoclines.