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Numerical study of flow around two spheres filled by a phase-change material

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Abstract

A numerical simulation using the commercial software “COMSOL Multiphysics” was carried out to study the flow around two fixed spheres filled with a phase-change material (PCM). This work focuses essentially on the process of fusion of the two interactive spheres located at different distances and on the heat exchange with the air flowing around two capsules. Two dispositions were examined: the first for two aligned capsules, while the second for two nonaligned ones. The separation distance d between the two capsules ranged from \(2R\) to \(8R\). The influence of the inter-capsule distance on the thermal behavior of the system was demonstrated. The results show that the interaction rate between the capsules decreases as a function of the separation distance and that there is an optimum distance d from which each capsule behaves independently of the other. This distance is equal to \(d = 6R\) for the first case and \(d = 3R\) for the second case. It was noted that the local exchange coefficients’ variation on the surfaces was influenced by the effect of the distance between the two capsules.

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Abbreviations

B :

Source term

Cp :

Specific heat capacity (J kg−1 K−1)

g :

Gravitational constant (m s−1)

H :

Liquid fraction

k :

Thermal conductivity (W  m−1 K−1)

Lm:

Melting heat (J kg−1)

D :

External capsule diameter (m)

d :

Distance of separation between the capsules according to the vertical axis (m)

d′:

Distance of offset between the capsules with respect to the axis of the channel (m)

t :

Time (s)

T :

Temperature (K)

u, v :

Velocities (m s1)

x; y :

Coordinates (m)

p :

Pressure (N m−2)

PCM:

Phase change material

h :

Exchange coefficient (Wm−2 K−1)

a:

Air

e:

Entry

l:

Liquid

s:

Solid

m:

Melting

eq:

Equivalent

0:

Reference

β :

Volumetric expansion coefficient (K−1)

Q :

Heat flux (W m−2)

ρ :

Density (kg m-3)

η :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa s)

θ :

Angle

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science of Bizerte, University of Carthage, 7021, Bizerte, Tunisia

    Fatma Ghrissi, Belgacem Dhifaoui & Sadok Ben Jabrallah

  2. Laboratory of Energetics and Thermal and Mass Transfer (LETTM), Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Campus Universitaire, 1060, Tunis, Tunisia

    Fatma Ghrissi, Belgacem Dhifaoui & Sadok Ben Jabrallah

  3. UVHC, LAMIH, Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France, 59313, Valenciennes, France

    Souad Harmand

Authors
  1. Fatma Ghrissi
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  2. Belgacem Dhifaoui
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  4. Sadok Ben Jabrallah
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Correspondence to Fatma Ghrissi.

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Ghrissi, F., Dhifaoui, B., Harmand, S. et al. Numerical study of flow around two spheres filled by a phase-change material. J Therm Anal Calorim 140, 1191–1203 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-019-09167-8

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