Analysis of solar radiation changes in Chinese solar greenhouses with different roof structures based on a solar radiation model

Chinese solar greenhouses(CSGs)are important agricultural production facilities.Under non-artificial heating conditions,solar radiation is the only CSGs energy source.It is highly important to optimally obtain solar energy in greenhouse construction and production.In this study,a solar radiation model for solar greenhouses was adopted to explore the quantities of solar radiation in greenhouses considering different front roof forms and angles.Herein,the solar radiation amounts corresponding to five roof forms,namely,double-section arc,parabolic,oval,arc,and linear roofs,are compared and analyzed during the four solar periods(beginning of spring,vernal equinox,beginning of winter,and winter solstice).It was found that the solar radiation of oval roof greenhouses on the ground was the largest and was 4.44%-23.68%higher than that of parabolic roofs.In addition,the cumulative sum of light on the linear roof greenhouse wall is also the largest and was 6.02%to 12.08%higher than the parabolic roof greenhouse in the four solar terms.Moreover,the solar radiation in CSGs was compared with front roof angles of 25°,30°,and 35°.It was observed that the solar radiation amount gradually increases with increasing angles.Notably,the variation at an angle of 35°influences the solar radiation of the paraboloidal CSGs ground and elliptical CSGs north wall to the greatest extent,which increased by 8.23%and 12.74%,respectively.This study confirms the role of front roof form and inclination angle in enhancing the greenhouse solar radiation level.

Numerical Investigation of the Temperature and Flow Fields in a Solar Chimney Power Plant

In this work,a parametric two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics(CFD)analysis of a solar chimney power plant(a prototype located in Manzanares,Spain)is presented to illustrate the effects of the solar radiation mode in the collector on the plant performances.The simulations rely on a mathematical model that includes solar radiation within the collector;energy storage;air flow and heat transfer,and a turbine.It is based on the Navier-Stokes equation for turbulent flow formulated according to the standard k-εmodel.Moreover,the Boussinesq approach is used to account for the fluid density variations.Different solar radiation modes in the collector are compared and discussed.The obtained results are also compared with available experimental results.It is shown that the radiation model is essential to avoid overestimation of the energy absorbed by the plant and that results based on a two-dimensional model can resemble closely those produced by three-dimensional models.

Neural Network for Estimating Daily Global Solar Radiation Using Temperature, Humidity and Pressure as Unique Climatic Input Variables

Solar radiation is one of the most important parameters for applications, development and research related to renewable energy. However, solar radiation measurements are not a simple task for several reasons. In the cases where data are not available, it is very common the use of computational models to estimate the missing data, which are based mainly on the search for relationships between weather variables, such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, sunshine hours, etc. But, many of these are subjective and difficult to measure, and thus they are not always available. In this paper, we propose a method for estimating daily global solar radiation, combining empirical models and artificial neural networks. The model uses temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure as the only climatic input variables. Also, this method is compared with linear regression to verify that the data have nonlinear components. The models are adjusted and validated using data from five meteorological stations in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. Results show that neural networks have better accuracy than empirical models and linear regression, obtaining on average, an error of 2.83 [MJ/m2] in the validation dataset.

A SEASONAL INFLUENZA THEORY AND MATHEMATICAL MODEL INCORPORATING METEOROLOGICAL AND SOCIO-BEHAVIORAL FACTORS

On the basis of a comprehensive literature review and data analysis of global influenza surveillance, a transmission theory based numerical model is developed to understand the causative factors of influenza seasonality and the biodynamical mechanisms of seasonal flu. The model is applied to simulate the seasonality and weekly activity of influenza in different areas across all continents and climate zones around the world. Model solution and the good matches between model output and actual influenza indexes affirm that influenza activity is highly auto-correlative and relies on determinants of a broad spectrum. Internal dynamic resonance; variations of meteorological elements (solar radiation, precipitation and dewpoint); socio-behavioral influences and herd immunity to circulating strains prove to be the critical explanatory factors of the seasonality and weekly activity of influenza. In all climate regions, influenza activity is proportional to the exponential of the number of days with precipitation and to the negative exponential of quarter power of sunny hours. Influenza activity is a negative exponential function of dewpoint in temperate and arctic regions and an exponential function of the absolute deviation of dewpoint from its annual mean in the tropics. Epidemics of seasonal influenza could be deemed as the consequence of the dynamic resonance and interactions of determinants. Early interventions (such as opportune vaccination, prompt social distancing, and maintaining incidence well below a baseline) are key to the control and prevention of seasonal influenza. Moderate amount of sunlight exposure or Vitamin D supplementation during rainy and short-day photoperiod seasons, more outdoor activities, and appropriate indoor dewpoint deserve great attention in influenza prevention. To a considerable degree, the study reveals the mechanism of influenza seasonality, demonstrating a potential for influenza activity projection. The concept and algorithm can be explored for further applications.

A curved surface solar radiation pressure force model for solar sail deformation

A precise force model is of vital importance for dynamics and control of solar sails. Among various factors, deviations from the ideal flat sails, elastic deformations of the sails, are really important as most solar sails are large flexible membranes. In this study, the deformed sails are modeled as smooth curved surfaces and a general total force model (GTFM) for the deformed sails is proposed. Various simplified versions of this GTFM are also derived for the symmetric deformation cases. Furthermore, differences between the ideal force models and our precise GTFM are investigated. The numerical results demonstrate that both the previous ideal reflected model and flat optical model are not as satisfactory as claimed before, by contrast with the actual dynamics from the GTFM. Thus this work paves the way for sail craft's precise navigation where exact forces are needed.

Influence of complex topography on global solar radiation in the Yangtze River Basin

Global solar radiation（GSR） is the most direct source and form of global energy, and calculation of its quantity is highly complex due to influences of local topography and terrain inter-shielding. Digital elevation model（DEM） data as a representation of the complex terrain and multiplicity condition produces a series of topographic factors（e.g. slope, aspect, etc.）. Based on 1 km resolution DEM data, meteorological observations and NOAA-AVHRR remote sensing data, a distributed model for the calculation of GSR over rugged terrain within the Yangtze River Basin has been developed. The overarching model permits calculation of astronomical solar radiation for rugged topography and comprises a distributed direct solar radiation model, a distributed diffuse radiation model and a distributed terrain reflectance radiation model. Using the developed model, a quantitative simulation of the GSR space distribution and visualization has been undertaken, with results subsequently analyzed with respect to locality and terrain. Analyses suggest that GSR magnitude is seasonally affected, while the degree of influence was found to increase in concurrence with increasing altitude. Moreover, GSR magnitude exhibited clear spatial variation with respect to the dominant local aspect; GSR values associated with the sunny southern slopes were significantly greater than those associated with shaded slopes. Error analysis indicates a mean absolute error of 12.983 MJm-2 and a mean relative error of 3.608%, while the results based on a site authentication procedure display an absolute error of 22.621 MJm-2 and a relative error of 4.626%.

Evaluation of strategies for the ultra-rapid orbit prediction of BDS GEO satellites

The quality of BeiDou Navigation Satellite System(BDS)Geostationary Earth Orbit(GEO)ultrarapid products is unsatisfactory because GEO satellites are nearly stationary relative to ground stations.To optimize the quality of these ultra-rapid orbit products,we investigated the effects of the fitting arc length,an a priori Solar-Radiation Pressure(SRP)model,and the along-track empirical acceleration on the prediction of BDS GEO satellite orbits.The predicted orbit arcs of 24-h were evaluated through comparisons with the corresponding observed orbit arc and Satellite Laser Ranging(SLR)observations.In both eclipse and non-eclipse seasons,accuracy of the orbit predictions obtained using a 48-h fitting arc length were better than those obtained using 24-h and 72-h fitting arc lengths.Although the overlapping precision of predicted orbits exhibited no obvious improvement when an a priori SRP model was employed,the systematic bias in the SLR residuals was significantly reduced.Specifically,the mean value of SLR residuals decreased from−0.248 m to−0.024 m during non-eclipse seasons and from−0.333 m to−0.041 m during eclipse seasons,respectively.In addition,when an empirical acceleration in the along-track direction was introduced,the three-Dimensional Root-Mean-Square(3D RMS)of overlapping orbits during eclipse seasons decreased from 2.964 to 1.080 m,which is comparable to that during non-eclipse seasons.Furthermore,the Standard Deviation(STD)of SLR residuals decreased from 0.419 to 0.221 m during eclipse seasons.The analysis of SRP estimates shows that the stability of SRP parameters was significantly enhanced after the introduction of along-track empirical acceleration in eclipse seasons.The optimal BDS GEO ultra-rapid orbit prediction products were yielded by using a 48-h fitting arc length,an a priori SRP model and an along-track empirical acceleration.

Experimental and numerical research on squat silo and large size horizontal warehouse during quasi-steady-state storage

Traditional method to prevent stored grain from deterioration is to control grain temperature.A three dimensional(3-D)numerical model was established to study the temperature variation in outdoor squat silo and large size horizontal warehouse at quasi-steady-state.In this research,porous media model and solar radiation model were adopted.Numerical and experimental results showed that grain temperature was influenced by temperature of wall,height of grain and the distance between grain and the wall.Temperature changes dramatically at the top layer of grain heap due to solar radiation and heat convection at air layer.Temperature of grain close to wall increased with the increasing of ambient temperature.The model established in this research is suitable for predicting grain temperature in outdoor squat silo and large size horizontal warehouse.