A simplified model to assess the thermal performance of pavement solar collectors

Abstract The assessment of thermal performance and efficiency of the Pavement Solar Collector (PSC) systems is essential in designing such systems. In this paper, a simplified simulation model is developed to predict PSC's performance at the design stage. Due to its simplicity, accuracy, and extremely quick simulation run-time, the model output can be linked with other thermal models and renewable heat sources to apply real-time changes in the PSC systems and used in the automation of a PID-controller. The output results show good compatibility between the predicted and simulated data, where the relative error values for model parametrization and validation are less than 0.21% and 0.5%. In terms of computational cost, a yearly long-term performance run time of the present model was simply 3 s (without parametrization), 300,000 times faster than a FEM model for only one month. A systematic sensitivity analysis on different design parameters shows that the efficiency index increases with an increase in pipe spacing, pipe embedment depth, and flow rate, while it decreases with an increase in the asphalt thermal conductivity in the wintertime. Also, the variation of the heat transfer coefficient UA* and correlation parameter k in different PSC configurations was established.