Experimental Study on Specific Heat of Concrete at High Temperatures and Its Influence on Thermal Energy Storage

Using concrete as a thermal energy storage (TES) material is a promising option for large-scale solar-thermal resource development and utilization. Specific heat is one of the most important characteristics for TES performance. In this paper, the half-open dynamic method based on the mixing principle is proposed and applied to measure concrete-specific heat at temperatures up to 600 ◦C. Measurement of the specific heat of corundum ceramic (99% Al2O3) is first performed, and the test results illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed test method. Furthermore, concrete-specific heat tests are carried out at high temperatures. It found that the specific heat increases as the temperature rises, especially, linearly in the range of 300–600 ◦C, in which the concrete TES module is expected to be in operation. Finally, the effect of concrete-specific heat changes with temperature on its TES capacity is investigated, demonstrating that specific heat is of great significance for concrete TES design for concentrating solar power.