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CFD simulation of melting process of phase change materials (PCMs) in a spherical capsule

Sattari, H ; Sharif University of Technology | 2017

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2016.09.007
  3. Publisher: Elsevier Ltd , 2017
  4. Abstract:
  5. The present study is focused on CFD simulation of constrained melting of Phase Change Materials (PCMs) in a spherical container. To investigate the melting process of the PCM, its melting fraction was analyzed at different times. The results indicated the existence of thermally stable layers on the top of the sphere. Moreover, inspection of the calculated temperatures at different points along the vertical axis indicates the existence of some disturbances at the bottom of the sphere due to the natural convection. After the validation of the results, the effects of different parameters such as the surface temperature of the capsule, the initial temperature and the size of the spherical capsules, on the melting process were investigated. The initial temperature did not affect the melting rate, whereas melting rate increased by increasing the surface temperature of the capsule and also decreasing the diameter of the sphere. The results showed that the surface temperature of capsule compared to geometrical parameters and other operational conditions can have a greater influence on the melting rate and the heat flux. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and IIR
  6. Keywords:
  7. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) ; Constrained melting ; Phase change materials ; Spherical container ; Atmospheric temperature ; Computational fluid dynamics ; Containers ; Geometry ; Heat flux ; Melting ; Metal melting ; Phase transitions ; Spheres ; Surface properties ; CFD simulations ; Initial temperatures ; Melting fraction ; Melting process ; Operational conditions ; Spherical capsule ; Surface temperatures ; Thermally stable
  8. Source: International Journal of Refrigeration ; Volume 73 , 2017 , Pages 209-218 ; 01407007 (ISSN)
  9. URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140700716302870