SolTrace is a computer program that simulates the operation of concentrated solar power plants. It may be used to examine the distribution of solar heat flux on various system components, such as absorber tubes.

To examine the solar heat flux distribution on an absorber tube in SolTrace, you must first run a simulation of your solar power system to create heat flux data. Here are some broad measures you may take:

1. In the SolTrace model, define the shape and material attributes of your absorber tube.

2. Set up your system's solar resource data and optical settings.

3. To generate the solar heat flow data, run the simulation.

4. Plot the solar heat flux distribution on the absorber tube as a function of circumferential angle using the SolTrace visualization tools.

It's worth mentioning that SolTrace may be a difficult tool to use, so if you're having difficulties setting up or running the simulation, examine the SolTrace manual or seek the assistance of an expert in the subject.

@ Qamar Ul Islam, dear sir I have performed simulation of absorber tube and PTSC in software by considering geometrical parameters, sun shape, optical properties, aperture and element followed by trace, and got result in terms of intersecting rays, contour plot and surface plot. but my question is how to get absorber circumferential angle Vs solar heat flux distribution in soltrace from these contour and surface plot data. Please get the attachment

Contour plot and surface plot I already obtained but my question is how to convert these surface plot data to convert it in absorber circumferential angle Vs heat flux distribution plot

Hi, Raman Kumar Singh

SolTrace outputs flux plots (and flux data) as in the first picture you showed: linear instead of angular coordinates.

As far as I could understand, you want to know how to convert from the linear plot to the angular one. Did I get it right?

If so, you can see that the Element Coordinate System of a tubular surface is at the bottom of the tube, as the attached file shows. Then, the tube surface is unrolled to transform it into linear coordinates over the x-axis, i.e., the right side of the tube is unrolled to the positive x-axis, and the left side of the tube is unrolled to the negative x-axis.

I hope my answer is still helpful to you.

Kind regards,

André.

Brief tutorials in Arabic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3BA8LL0sww&list=PLgF7nt7xs3JyngMEbITueeZbl6OcI0hHu