Numerical investigation of wind velocity effects on evaporation rate of passive single-slope solar stills in Khuzestan province in Iran

Khuzestan Province is located in Iran and has average annual evaporation of over 2000 ml. It also encounters water scarcity and water salinity issues. To make proper use of the high evaporation rate in Khuzestan and help overcome the water scarcity issue, this study simulates the effects of wind velocity on the performance of passive single-slope solar stills, identifying the optimal regions for the deployment of solar stills. The wind velocities of 2.5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, and 20 m/s were incorporated. To simulate the two-dimensional steady laminar flow within the solar still, the humid air model was employed. Furthermore, the turbulence k-epsilon model was utilized to simulate the external flow of the solar still. The accuracy of the numerical technique was evaluated by comparing the average Nusselt number results on the water surface to different models and by comparing the production rate results to experimental data. It was observed that the numerical approach was properly accurate. The results indicate that a rise in the wind velocity decreases the freshwater production rate, with the maximum production rate reduction was occurred at a wind velocity of 15 m/s. Ramhormoz, Dehdez, and Izeh were found to be optimal regions for deploying solar stills, based on the wind velocity. (c) 2022 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier BV on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).