{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,24]],"date-time":"2026-03-24T06:04:17Z","timestamp":1774332257287,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,16]],"date-time":"2023-04-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1681603200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Processes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The main objective of this research was to create two different configurations of a flat-plate solar air heater, namely, Conventional-Case A and Modified-Case B, and develop a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using ANSYS R15.0. The purpose of the CFD model was to simulate the heat transfer behavior of the proposed solar air heaters under unsteady conditions. The RNG k-\u03b5 turbulence model was employed for this CFD study. The experiments were conducted on sunny days, under the same conditions as the Egyptian climate. The results of the experiments show that the simulated CFD model and the measured outlet airflow temperatures, relative humidity, and velocities of the two tested solar air heaters were compared. The developed model made very satisfactory predictions. Moreover, the deviations between the average CFD outlet air temperatures and the experimental results were 7% and 7.8% for Case B and Case A, respectively. The CFD-simulated average relative humidity was reduced by 31.6% when using Case B compared with Case A, and it was reduced by 28.8% when comparing the experimental data to Case B. Additionally, the average CFD thermal efficiencies obtained for Case B and Case A were 28.7% and 21.6%, respectively, while the average experimental thermal efficiencies for the cases were 26.4% and 18.2%, respectively. The proposed model can be used to design and simulate other solar air heater designs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pr11041227","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,17]],"date-time":"2023-04-17T01:34:15Z","timestamp":1681695255000},"page":"1227","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":43,"title":["Thermal Performance Evaluation for Two Designs of Flat-Plate Solar Air Heater: An Experimental and CFD Investigations"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2542-0453","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mahmoud S.","family":"El-Sebaey","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32511, Egypt"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2158-838X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asko","family":"Ellman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Tampere University, 33100 Tampere, Finland"}]},{"given":"Sh. Shams","family":"El-Din","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32511, Egypt"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3446-1695","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fadl A.","family":"Essa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafrelsheikh 33516, Egypt"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"639","DOI":"10.1016\/j.applthermaleng.2016.12.026","article-title":"Comparative study on the performance of a new solar air collector with different surface shapes","volume":"114","author":"Li","year":"2017","journal-title":"Appl. Therm. Eng."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"236","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2020.07.088","article-title":"Numerical investigation on the performance of a solar air heater using jet impingement with absorber plate","volume":"208","author":"Yadav","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2023.03.023","article-title":"An experimental case study on development the design and the performance of indirect solar dryer type for drying bananas","volume":"255","author":"Mousavi","year":"2023","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"114902","DOI":"10.1016\/j.applthermaleng.2020.114902","article-title":"Modeling and Experimental Study of a Triangular Channel Solar Air Heater","volume":"170","author":"Akhbari","year":"2020","journal-title":"Appl. Therm. Eng."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"051008","DOI":"10.1115\/1.4043517","article-title":"Numerical analysis of flat plate solar air heater integrated with an array of pin fins on absorber plate for enhancement in thermal performance","volume":"141","author":"Manjunath","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Sol. Energy Eng."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116437","DOI":"10.1016\/j.energy.2019.116437","article-title":"Performance improvement of a solar air heater by covering the absorber plate with a thin porous material","volume":"190","author":"Jouybari","year":"2020","journal-title":"Energy"},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"236","article-title":"Experimental study on the performance of spiral solar air heater","volume":"208","author":"Jiaa","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2019.11.034","article-title":"Evaluation of the performance of an improved solar air heater with \u201cS\u201d shaped ribs with gap","volume":"195","author":"Wanga","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"100373","article-title":"Study of a passive solar air heater using palm oil and paraffin as storage media","volume":"13","author":"Ojike","year":"2019","journal-title":"Case Stud. Therm. Eng."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"463","DOI":"10.1016\/j.egypro.2017.03.069","article-title":"Performance analysis of trapezoidal corrugated solar air heater with sensible heat storage material","volume":"109","author":"Lakshmia","year":"2017","journal-title":"Energy Procedia"},{"key":"ref_11","first-page":"09","article-title":"Implementation of flat plate solar collector design of different design conditions","volume":"44","author":"Kalash","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Mech. Eng. Res. Dev."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19","DOI":"10.3103\/S0003701X14010046","article-title":"Heat Transfer Coefficient and Thermal Losses of Solar Collector and Nusselt Number Correlation for Rectangular Solar Air Heater Duct with Longitudinal Fins Hold under the Absorber Plate","volume":"50","author":"Chabane","year":"2014","journal-title":"Appl. Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_13","first-page":"923","article-title":"An experimental study of the performance of a solar flat plate collector with triangular geometry","volume":"6","author":"Moraveja","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Sol. Energy Res."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"416","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2020.12.053","article-title":"Numerical analysis of a solar air heater with circular perforated absorber plate","volume":"215","author":"Shetty","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"168781401772847","DOI":"10.1177\/1687814017728477","article-title":"Experimental study of the effect of slit width and slit spacing on the thermal performance of slit-glazed collectors","volume":"9","author":"Mousavi","year":"2017","journal-title":"Adv. Mech. Eng."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2004.09.014","article-title":"Theoretical approach of a flat plate solar collector with clear and low-iron glass covers taking into account the spectral absorption and emission within glass covers layer","volume":"30","author":"Khoukhi","year":"2005","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"479","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2020.01.091","article-title":"Study of the performance of double pass solar air heater of a new designed absorber: An experimental work","volume":"198","author":"Hassan","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"722","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2016.06.038","article-title":"Experimental investigation of concentrated solar air-heater with internal multiple-fin array","volume":"97","author":"Kasperski","year":"2016","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1677","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2019.07.076","article-title":"Experimental and numerical study of the effect of integrating plus-shaped perforated baffles to solar air collector in drying application","volume":"145","author":"Khanlari","year":"2020","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2018.04.003","article-title":"Mathematical modelling and performance analysis of a solar air collector with slit-perforated corrugated plate","volume":"167","author":"Zhang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2017.03.042","article-title":"Experimental and numerical investigation of forced convective heat transfer in solar air heater with thin ribs","volume":"147","author":"Sharma","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1016\/j.renene.2018.11.016","article-title":"Numerical investigation of heat transfer enhancement in a solar air heater roughened by multiple V-shaped ribs","volume":"134","author":"Jin","year":"2019","journal-title":"Renew. Energy"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115018","DOI":"10.1016\/j.applthermaleng.2020.115018","article-title":"Numerical Modeling and Experimental Validation of Back-Pass Rectangular Ducts Solar Air Heaters","volume":"171","author":"Pilatowsky","year":"2020","journal-title":"Appl. Therm. Eng."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"(2023, January 12). Relative Humidity Calculator. Available online: https:\/\/www.1728.org\/relhum.htm."},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"102069","article-title":"Investigation of thermal performance in a solar air heater having variable arc ribbed fin configuration","volume":"52","author":"Sureandhar","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sustain. Energy Technol. Assess."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1016\/j.solener.2017.09.045","article-title":"Energy, exergy, economic and environmental (4E) analyses of flat-plate and V-groove solar air collectors based on aluminium and copper","volume":"158","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sol. Energy"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"El-Sebaey, M.S., Ellman, A., Hegazy, A., and Ghonim, T. (2020). Experimental Analysis and CFD Modeling for Conventional Basin-Type Solar Still. Energies, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/en13215734"},{"key":"ref_28","first-page":"21","article-title":"Experimental and CFD Study on Single Slope Double Basin Solar Still","volume":"44","author":"Hegazy","year":"2021","journal-title":"Eng. Res. J."}],"container-title":["Processes"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9717\/11\/4\/1227\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T19:16:43Z","timestamp":1760123803000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9717\/11\/4\/1227"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,16]]},"references-count":28,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4]]}},"alternative-id":["pr11041227"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/pr11041227","relation":{},"ISSN":["2227-9717"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2227-9717","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,16]]}}}