This research work presents the thermal performance investigation of a porous serpentine wavy wiremesh packed bed solar air heater, experimentally and numerically. Experimental results revealed the best thermal and thermohydraulic efficiencies for 93% porous double pass serpentine packed bed solar air heater and found to be about 80% and 74%, respectively, which is about 18% and 17% high compared to single pass, respectively. Whereas, numerical investigation is carried out on a CFD tool and the results are validated with experimental data. The range of porosity from 85% to 95%, wavelength from 0.05 m to 0.075 m, amplitude from 0.012 m to 0.016 m, hydraulic diameter from 0.025 m to 0.046 m and mass flow rate from 0.01 to 0.05 kg/s is considered to obtain optimum values for geometrical and flow parameters on the basis of TI-IPP and exergy efficiency. The numerical results present the maximum 24.33% better thermohydraulic performance for serpentine packed bed solar air heater when compared to flat packed bed solar air heater. The wavelength of 0.075 m, amplitude of 0.012 m, hydraulic diameter of 0.0835 m, porosity of 90%, and mass flow rate of 0.03 kg/s is obtained as the optimum configuration. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.