LAUSR

Abstract One of the main factors affecting the heat transfer efficiency of solar collector is that the ordinary fluid in it is in the state of natural convection. Supercritical fluid is expected to improve the heat transfer efficiency of solar collectors due to its dramatic changes in thermal properties, so it is necessary to carry out the research of natural convection of supercritical fluid. Although researchers have made lots of related experimental investigations, heat transfer mechanism of supercritical natural convection is still unclear. In order to clarify its heat transfer mechanism, this article conducts a numerical analysis for supercritical natural convection applying lattice Boltzmann method, which has been proved to be valid and convenient. Considering the influences of temperature difference and pressure on natural convective heat transfer of supercritical fluid are seldom studied, the relevant researches are carried out in the article. The results imply that pressure of supercritical fluid in solar collectors should be less than 11 MPa so that high heat transfer performance can be obtained. Finally, the correlations of average Nusselt number, Rayleigh number, and pressure are fitted for the convenience of heat transfer calculation.