Flow modeling of a packed bed high temperature thermal energy storage system

Since 2015 a large scale demonstration plant of the STORASOL High Temperature Thermal Energy Storage (HTTES) is in operation at the University of Bayreuth/Germany – the ORCTES-plant. In this paper a flow model of the packed bed storage system is developed. The model is validated with measurement data of the ORCTES-plant. Using the developed flow model and conducted simulations this paper explains various phenomena observed at the ORCTES-plant and the influence of different operation parameters. As a conclusion the developed flow model can be used in the future design process.