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Large-Scale Experimental Study of a Phase Change Material: Shape Identification for the Solid–Liquid Interface

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Abstract

This study describes the development of an experimental setup that tracks the evolution of the melting and freezing fronts of a Phase Change Material (PCM), in this case paraffin. The results obtained enable the examination of the shape and movement of the melting front of the PCM. Two modes of heat transfer were identified during the melting process: conduction when melting began and natural convection, which becomes dominant in the remainder of the cycle. Monitoring of the melt over time shows that the melt fraction, expressed as the ratio of the molten volume and solid volume, is proportional to the difference between the imposed temperature and the melting temperature. Experimental results confirm the linearity proposed by other researchers.

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Abbreviations

A :

Aspect ratios (\(\mathrm{{A}} = {\mathrm{{H}} {\cdot } \mathrm{{L}}}^{-1}\))

c :

Specific heat at constant pressure (\(\mathrm{{J}}{\cdot }\mathrm{kg}^{-1}{\cdot }\mathrm{{K}}^{-1})\)

\(h_{sl}\) :

Latent heat of melting/solidification of PCM \((\mathrm{{J}}{\cdot } \mathrm{{kg}}^{-1})\)

Fo :

Fourier number \((\mathrm{{Fo}} = {\upalpha }{\cdot }\mathrm{{t{\cdot }L}}^{-2})\)

H :

Height of the rectangular enclosure (m)

k :

Thermal conductivity \((\mathrm{{W{\cdot }m}}^{-1}{\cdot }\mathrm{{K}}^{-1})\)

L :

Length of the rectangular enclosure (m)

Ra :

Rayleigh number \((\hbox {Ra} = \mathrm{{g}}{\cdot }{\upbeta }\,(\mathrm{{T}}_{\mathrm{h}}-\mathrm{{T}}_{\mathrm{m}}){\cdot }\mathrm{{L}}^{3}{\cdot }({\upalpha }{\cdot }{{\upnu }})^{-1})\)

Ste :

Stefan number \((\hbox {Ste} = \mathrm{{C}}{\cdot }(\mathrm{{T}}_{\mathrm{h}}-\mathrm{{T}}_{\mathrm{m}}){\cdot }\mathrm{{h}}_{\mathrm{sl}}^{-1})\)

t :

Time (s)

T :

Temperature \((^{\circ }\hbox {C})\)

V :

Volume of the PCM liquid \((\hbox {m}^{3})\)

\(V_{0}\) :

Total volume of the PCM \((\hbox {m}^{3})\)

x, y :

Cartesian coordinates of the enclosure (m)

\(\alpha \) :

Thermal diffusivity \((\mathrm{{m}}^{2}{\cdot }\mathrm{{s}}^{-1})\)

\(\beta \) :

Thermal expansion coefficient \((\hbox {K}^{-1})\)

\(\nu \) :

Kinematic viscosity \((\mathrm{{m}}^{2}{\cdot }\mathrm{{s}}^{-1})\)

\(\rho \) :

Density \((\mathrm{{kg}}{\cdot }\mathrm{{m}}^{-3})\)

c:

Cold

h:

Hot

i:

Insulating material

l:

Liquid

m:

Melting point

s:

Solid

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) for financial support. The authors also thank the partners of the t3e research group, who support the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Energy, Heat and mass Transfer, Campus University, 1060, Tunis, Tunisia

    Soumaya Kadri, Belgacem Dhifaoui & Sadok Ben Jabrallah

  2. Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology of Mateur, Univesity of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia

    Belgacem Dhifaoui

  3. UER Science et Technologie, Télé-Université, 455 rue du Parvis, Quebec, QC, Canada

    Yvan Dutil

  4. t3e Industrial Research Chair, Ecole de technologie superieure, Montreal, QC, 1100, Canada

    Yvan Dutil & Daniel R. Rousse

  5. Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, 7021, Bizerte, Tunisia

    Sadok Ben Jabrallah

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  1. Soumaya Kadri
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  2. Belgacem Dhifaoui
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  3. Yvan Dutil
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  4. Sadok Ben Jabrallah
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Correspondence to Belgacem Dhifaoui.

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Kadri, S., Dhifaoui, B., Dutil, Y. et al. Large-Scale Experimental Study of a Phase Change Material: Shape Identification for the Solid–Liquid Interface. Int J Thermophys 36, 2897–2915 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-015-1935-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10765-015-1935-y

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