[en] A thermal model has been developed to investigate the potential of using the stored thermal energy of the ground for greenhouse heating and cooling with the help of a ground heat storage system (GHSS) integrated with the greenhouse located in the premises of CRTEn, Tunis, Tunisia. Experiments were conducted extensively throughout the years 2006-2007, and the developed model was validated against several consecutive arbitrary days experiments. The predicted and measured values of the greenhouse air temperatures and humidities that were verified, in terms of root mean square deviation and correlation coefficient, exhibited fair agreement. The results of this study showed that the GHS system kept the inside air temperature 1-3 degree higher than that of outside air at nighttime. The main reason for this low efficiency is due to the weak heat transfer area of the water-air heat exchanger. The simulation results indicate that the GHSS does not yield any significant effect for cooling greenhouses during sunny daytime. The GHSS fulfils its full potential for a heat transfer area of 150 m². With this area, there occurs 4-6 degree rise of temperature in greenhouse as compared to the temperatures without GHSS and respectively 5-7.5 degree rise in greenhouse as compared to outside air

[en] In this work, effects of rotation on the evolution of kinematic and thermal fields in homogeneous sheared turbulence are investigated using second order closure modeling. The Launder-Reece-Ro di models, the Speziale-Sarkar-Gatski model and the Shih-Lumley models are retained for pressure-strain correlation and pressure-temperature correlation. Whereas classic models are retained for time evolution equations of kinematic and thermal dissipation rates. The fourth order Runge-Kutta method is used to resolve three non linear differential systems obtained after modeling. The numerical integration is carried out separately for several values of the dimensionless rotation number R equal to 0, 0.25 and 0.5. The obtained results are compared to the recent results of Direct Numerical Simulations of G.Brethouwer. The results have confirmed the asymptotic equilibrium behaviors of kinematic and thermal dimensionless parameters. Furthermore they have shown that rotation affects not only kinematic field but also thermal field. The coupling between the Speziale-Sarkar-Gatski model and the Launder-Reece-Rodi model is of a big contribution on the prediction of kinematic and thermal fields

[en] This paper deals with a numerical and experimental investigation of a daily solar storage system conceived and built in Laboratoire de Maitrise des Technologies de l Energie (LMTE, Borj Cedria). This system consists mainly of the storage unit connected to a solar collector unit. The storage unit consists of a wooden case with dimension of 5 m³ (5 m x 1m x 1m) filed with fin sand. Inside the wooden case was buried a network of a polypropylene capillary heat exchanger with an aperture area equal to 5 m². The heat collection unit consisted of 5 m² of south-facing solar collector mounted at a 37 degree tilt angle. In order to evaluate the system efficiency during the charging period (during the day) and discharging period (during the night) an energy and exergy analyses were applied. Outdoor experiments were also carried out under varied environmental conditions for several consecutive days. Results showed that during the charging period, the average daily rates of thermal energy and exergy stored in the heat storage unit were 400 and 2.6 W, respectively. It was found that the net energy and exergy efficiencies in the charging period were 32 pour cent and 22 pour cent, respectively. During the discharging period, the average daily rates of the thermal energy and exergy recovered from the heat storage unit were 2 kW and 2.5 kW, respectively. The recovered heat from the heat storage unit was used for the air-heating of a tested room (4 m x 3 m x 3 m). The results showed that 30 pour cent of the total heating requirement of the tested room was obtained from the heat storage system during the whole night in cold seasons

[en] Due to limited amount of natural resources exploited for heating, and in order to reduce the environmental impact, people should strive to use renewable energy resources. Ambient low-grade energy may be upgraded by the ground heat exchanger (GH E), which exploits the ground thermal inertia for buildings heating and cooling. In this study, analytical performance and experiments analysis of a horizontal ground heat exchanger have been performed. The analytical study, relates to the dimensioning of the heat exchanger, shows that the heat exchanger characteristics are very important for the determination of heat extracted from ground. The experimental results were obtained during the period 30 November to 10 December 2007, in the heating season of the greenhouses. Measurements show that the ground temperature under a certain depth remains relatively constant. To exploit effectively the heat capacity of the ground, a horizontal heat exchanger system has to be constructed and tested in the Center of Research and Technology of Energy, in Tunisia

[en] This paper presents a study of wind resource in the Golf of Tunis. Experimental measurement of wind speed and wind direction, are conducted. The statistic treatment of results permitted us to evaluate the most characteristics of wind energy in the studied site. The obtained results can be used to perform wind power designs and confirm that the Golf of Tunis has promising wind energy potential

[en] This book contains the short papers from the International Symposium on convective heat and Mass Transfer in sustainable Energy ( conv-09), organized on behalf of the International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer, it was held on April 26- 1st May, In Hammamet, Tunisia. The objective of this conference is to bring together researchers in a forum to exchange innovative ideas, methods and results, and visions of the future related to the general theme of convective heat and mass transfer

[en] The hydrodynamic and turbulence model have been simulated by our computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code in a mechanically stirred tank equipped by axial turbine. The effect of the modified attack angle of the blade on the flow prediction is studied. The Reynolds-averaged continuity and Navier-Stokes equations were solved. For the closure of the above equations, a turbulence model κ-ε has been employed. The numerical solution of these equations was achieved by a finite-volume method. The CFD predicted flow fields at different locations in the tank as well as the power number show reasonably good agreement with the measured data and with those calculated from published experimental correlations

[en] In this contribution, a study of the thermal losses effect undergone by the different parts of an intermittent absorption solar refrigeration cycle using the Ammonia/Water mixture is presented. After having shown the interest of the intermittent cycles through the discussion of the problem of the adaptation of these cycles to solar energy, mass and thermal assessments for each compartment of the installation were established for the two cases without and with thermal losses. The resulting differential equations system is solved numerically. The theoretical results obtained concern the temperature variations, the vapor flow as well as the compositions of the rich and the poor solutions

[en] An integrated collector storage (ICS) solar water heater was constructed in 2004 and studied its optical and thermal performance. It was revealed that it has some thermal shortcomings of thermal performances. The ICS system consists of one cylindrical horizontal tank properly mounted in a stationary symmetrical Compound Parabolic Concentrating (CPC) reflector trough. The main objective was to delimit the causes of these deficiencies and trying to diagnose them. A rigorous experimentation of the solar water heater has been done over its daily energetic output as well as the evolution of the nocturnal thermal losses. In fact, three successive days, including nights, of operation have permitted to obtain diagrams describing the variations of mean temperature in the tank and the thermal loss coefficient during night of our installation. The experimental results, compared with those obtained by simulation, showed a perfecting of thermal performances of system which approach from those of other models introduced on the international market

[en] The present innovation relates to the coupling of a refrigerator to a cumulus to heat water and this, thanks to the heat yielded to the level of the condenser of the refrigerating system even. The heating of water is carried out thus without energy over consumption. The quantity of heat transferred by the water-cooled condenser is sufficient to raise the temperature of this latter with 60 degree at the end of five hours. This can satisfy completely or partially the requirements out of hot water of a family which can distribute its requirements out of hot water all along the day and the week. The quantity of heat recovered by water to heat rises with four multiples the power consumption by the compressor. The system thus makes it possible to save energy and to safeguard the environment