Roman Letters

A [m], [m²] amplitude of the sinusoid, or area

c p  J  kg 1  K 1  specific heat

D  m diameter

Ef pressure drop penalty

E Nu heat transfer performance

F1 blending function

f    ,  m friction factor, or focal length

h W  m 2  K 1  convective coefficient

k  m²  s 2  turbulent kinetic energy

m  kg  s 1  mass flow rate

p  Pa  pressure

Prt  0.85 turbulent Prandtl number

Q W  mean heat transfer rate

qsun W  m 2  direct Solar Insolation

q W  m2  heat flux density

Rcurv  m curvature radius

minimum
Rcurv m minimum Curvature radius

ST W  m 3  energy source term

T K  temperature
Tmf  K  HTF arithmetic mean temperature

Tf  K  HTF film temperature

T K  mean temperature

Vr  m3  volume of the tube wall

u  m  s 1  HTF velocity

V  m  s 1  HTF velocity magnitude

V *   normalized velocity

x, y, z [m] cartesian coordinates

y '( z ), y ''( z ) first and second derivatives of y (z)

y distance from the wall in wall units

zr  m  straight length of the tube receiver

Greek Letters

   absorptance

   curvature ratio

Tw  K  circumferential temperature difference

   emittance

  circumferential angle

  m , W  m 1  K 1  periodicity length, or thermal conductivity

  Pa  s  dynamic viscosity
t  Pa  s  turbulent viscosity

  s 1  turbulent dissipation rate

  kg  m 3  density

  5.670373 108 Stefan–Boltzmann constant

W  m 2  K 4 

   ,  Pa  transmittance, or shear stress

Subscripts

amb ambient

cr critical

cs cross-section

g glass envelope

i and o inner and outer faces

in and out tube inlet and outlet

r tube receiver

w tube wall