Author, as appears in the article.: Seta, B; Sánchez, PS; Dubert, D; Massons, J; Gavaldà, J; Porter, J; Bou-Ali, MM; Ruiz, X; Shevtsova, V
Department: Química Física i Inorgànica
URV's Author/s: Dubert, Diana Cristina / Gavaldà Martínez, Josefa / Masons Bosch, Jaime
Keywords: Thermocapillary effect Phase-change materials Phase change materials Microgravity Melting thermocapillary effect solidification reduction performance number nepcm microgravity melting heat convection
Abstract: The melting of a phase change material (PCM) in a cuboidal domain under microgravity conditions is investigated numerically. The upper surface of the PCM is free (in contact with air, for example) and variations in its surface tension drive thermocapillary convection in the liquid phase, which significantly enhances heat transfer and accelerates melting. Furthermore, the change in liquid fraction during melting is associated with transitions among various modes of thermocapillary dynamics, including an oscillatory instability to hydrothermal waves. While the characteristics of PCM melting and thermocapillary dynamics have previously been investigated in this system using a two-dimensional model, the current work examines the important question of transverse dynamics and their effect on the melting process. Careful quantitative comparisons are made between the three- and two-dimensional models in terms of melting times, solid/liquid interface evolution, thermal fields, and spectrograms. The results show that transverse modes are often, but not always, reflection symmetric about the midplane and that their influence on melting and PCM performance is relatively minor in most cases. Thus, two-dimensional models may be used to reduce computational costs while still providing a reasonable approximation of the melting process for high Prandtl number materials, especially when compared to the midplane of the full cuboidal domain.
Thematic Areas: Thermodynamics Química Mechanics Interdisciplinar General chemical engineering Engenharias iv Engenharias iii Engenharias ii Condensed matter physics Ciências biológicas i Chemical engineering (miscellaneous) Chemical engineering (all) Biotecnología Atomic and molecular physics, and optics Astronomia / física
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Author's mail: dianacristina.dubert@urv.cat fina.gavalda@urv.cat jaume.masons@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0002-7308-5872 0000-0001-7881-4192 0000-0003-4325-6084
Record's date: 2024-05-11
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735193323005870
Papper original source: International Communications In Heat And Mass Transfer. 150
APA: Seta, B; Sánchez, PS; Dubert, D; Massons, J; Gavaldà, J; Porter, J; Bou-Ali, MM; Ruiz, X; Shevtsova, V (2024). Three-dimensional effects during thermocapillary-driven melting of PCMs in cuboidal containers in microgravity. International Communications In Heat And Mass Transfer, 150(), -. DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2023.107198
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2023.107198
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2024
Publication Type: Journal Publications