Optimization of high temperature SiC volumetric solar absorber

Focusing on radiative properties (absorption and scattering coefficient, scattering phase-function) of silicon carbide foams, several predictive models are compared to spectral transmittance and reflectance measurements (bi-directional and directionalhemispherical) in the aim of determining new correlations based on ceramic foam characteristics (struts/pores size and porosity). A mono-dimensional modeling is developed to solve Navier-stokes equations (conservation of mass and momentum) and energy equations (coupled heat transfers) inside the absorber. Several radiative models are tested to approximate the radiative transfer equation end compute the radiative source term (Rosseland, P-1 model, and two-flux approximation). Numerical simulations are compared to reference results obtained with Monte-Carlo algorithm using net-exchange formulation. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer review by the scientific conference committee of SolarPACES 2013 under responsibility of PSE AG.