Optimising Solar Desalination with Ansys Fluent CFD: A Complete Simulation Guide for Learners

 

Solar water desalination has emerged as a viable solution in a world where water is becoming increasingly scarce, offering an eco-friendly and sustainable means of producing clean water. In order to have optimum design and functioning of these systems, Ansys Fluent CFD has become a mandatory simulation tool. This blog has discussed an in-depth CFD simulation of a solar still using Ansys Fluent v14.5, providing an ideal learning experience for students, researchers, and engineers pursuing online training programs or courses in Ansys Fluent CFD.

Understanding the Study and Its Relevance

This simulation study was aimed at designing a feasible, continuous, and very productive solar water desalination unit. It was designed in such a way that the water had a high yield during the day, and the whole simulation was done in the ANSYS Fluent workbench. The project incorporated geometry modelling, meshing, setting up the simulation, and interpreting the results —the three components that form the basics of any CFD training or course, in particular, whether online or offline.

Geometry and Design Setup in Ansys Fluent

The system was designed as a single-slope single-basin (SSSB) solar still with a basin of 1.00 × 1.00 m². It included a seawater feeding tank and a vapour collection chamber, ensuring continuous operation. Materials used in the model included:

  • Transparent Glass Cover – for solar heat penetration

  • Aluminium Base Plate – for efficient heat conduction

  • Wooden Sidewalls – assumed insulated to reduce heat loss

All components were designed in the Fluent environment, making it a realistic and educational case study for those pursuing an online course in Ansys Fluent CFD.

Meshing


Using ANSYS meshing tools, a 3D hexahedral mesh was created. This high-quality mesh is crucial for minimising numerical errors and ensuring accurate simulation of heat and mass transfer.

  • Node Count: 2,086,763

  • Element Count: 20,204,237

  • Mesh Quality: 0.87 average

  • Aspect Ratio: 1.59

  • Skewness: 0.14

These mesh parameters fall within industry-accepted standards, ensuring the reliability of results. Anyone taking CFD training courses online would benefit greatly from learning how such parameters impact simulation performance and convergence.

Simulation Setup and Boundary Conditions

The simulation used energy and volume of fluid (VOF) models to account for evaporation and condensation processes within the solar still. Important conditions included:

  • Solar heat flux input

  • Temperature gradients

  • Volume fraction of water phase

  • Natural convection inside the still

Boundary conditions were set to reflect realistic outdoor conditions, a valuable lesson for learners in Ansys Fluent training who want to understand how environmental parameters affect model accuracy.

Results Validation

Comparison was made between simulations and theoretical results in terms of temperature contours and yield of water in the published literature. The design was successful as there was a good agreement in the model. This step of comparison is usually highlighted in the course of CFD, especially in higher modules where the validation plays a big part.

Conclusion

The model of solar desalination is not merely a technical simulation; it is an ideal illustration of how Ansys Fluent CFD could be applied in the field of solving real-life problems. To those who are students and professional personnel who are undertaking an online course or training in CFD, such examples are useful to reduce the complexity differences between theory and practice.

Be it at the beginning of your adventure with fluid simulation or the desire to master your skills, you might consider taking an online course and participating in hands-on project-based training. The experience is meaningful and career-relevant because it is based on real engineering problems just like this one.

Interested in learning more? Explore the expert-led Ansys Fluent CFD training course online, only at PIGSO LEARNING.

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