Thermal energy storage technologies and systems for concentrating solar power plants

Usage of renewable and clean solar energy is expanding at a rapid pace Applications of thermal energy storage (TES) facility in solar energy field enable dispatchability in generation of electricity and home space heating requirements It helps mitigate the intermittence issue with an energy source like solar energy TES also helps in smoothing out fluctuations in energy demand during different time periods of the day In this paper, a summary of various solar thermal energy storage materials and thermal energy storage systems that are currently in use is presented The properties of solar thermal energy storage materials are discussed and analyzed The dynamic performances of solar thermal energy storage systems in recent investigations are also presented and summarized

Thermal energy storage materials and systems for solar energy applications

Spalling and pore pressure in HPC at high temperatures

In recent years, an emerging technology termed, “High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Concrete (HPFRC)” has become popular in the construction industry. The materials used in HPFRC depend on the desired characteristics and the availability of suitable local economic alternative materials. Concrete is a common building material, generally weak in tension, often ridden with cracks due to plastic and drying shrinkage. The introduction of short discrete fibers into the concrete can be used to counteract and prevent the propagation of cracks. Despite an increase in interest to use HPFRC in concrete structures, some doubts still remain regarding the effect of fibers on the properties of concrete. This paper presents the most comprehensive review to date on the mechanical, physical, and durability-related features of concrete. Specifically, this literature review aims to provide a comprehensive review of the mechanism of crack formation and propagation, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, stress–strain behavior, tensile strength (TS), flexural strength, drying shrinkage, creep, electrical resistance, and chloride migration resistance of HPFRC. In general, the addition of fibers in high-performance concrete has been proven to improve the mechanical properties of concrete, particularly the TS, flexural strength, and ductility performance. Furthermore, incorporation of fibers in concrete results in reductions in the shrinkage and creep deformations of concrete. However, it has been shown that fibers may also have negative effects on some properties of concrete, such as the workability, which get reduced with the addition of steel fibers. The addition of fibers, particularly steel fibers, due to their conductivity leads to a significant reduction in the electrical resistivity of the concrete, and it also results in some reduction in the chloride penetration resistance of the concrete.

High-performance fiber-reinforced concrete: a review

The range of problems that geotechnical engineers must face is increasing in complexity and scope. Often, complexity arises from the interaction between the soil and the environment – the topic of this lecture. To deal with this type of problem, the classical soil mechanics formulation is progressively generalised in order to incorporate the effects of new phenomena and new variables on soil behaviour. Recent advances in unsaturated soil mechanics are presented first: it is shown that they provide a consistent framework for understanding the engineering behaviour of unsaturated soils, and the effects of suction and moisture changes. Building on those developments, soil behaviour is further explored by considering thermal effects for two opposite cases: high temperatures, associated with the problem of storage and disposal of high-level radioactive waste; and low temperatures in problems of freezing ground. Finally, the lecture examines some issues related to chemical effects on soils and rocks, focusing i...

Valentina Salomoni

Papers

Thermal storage of sensible heat using concrete modules in solar power plants

Effect of nylon fibres on mechanical and thermal properties of hardened concrete for energy storage systems

An approach for modelling concrete spalling in finite strains

Composite behavior of concrete materials under high temperatures

Gamma-ray shielding properties of heavyweight concrete with Electric Arc Furnace slag as aggregate: An experimental and numerical study