Abstract
The type of soil plays an effective role in determining the solar chimney efficiency and the cost of its construction. The aim of the present work is to study the effect of different types of grounds on the solar chimney performance, in addition to conducting an economic analysis of the use of these types. The study methodology included two aspects, one of which was experimental and other was numerical. The pebbles ground recorded the highest power output and efficiency of about 160 mW, 45%, respectively, while the lowest value was using sand of about 16 mW, 19%, respectively. The results of the economic analysis concluded that concrete is the most expensive about 6 $/m2, and 2 $/m2, 1.25 $/m2, 0.5 $/m2, for sand, mixture of sand and pebbles, and pebble, respectively. The reliability of the proposed model was verified by comparing the experimental and theoretical results as well as comparing them with the results of the literature. The agreement was satisfactory; with the mean percentage error (MPE) did not exceed 1% for all performance parameters. The study concluded that the best performance of the SCPP was using a pebble ground, while sand was the worst option.