A Novel Technique to Analyze the Effect of Enclosure Shape on the Performance of Phase-change Materials

Abstract

Abstract Phase change materials have been recently used for temperature regulation and storage in buildings. The optimization of their performance is a major concern for a proper integration. In this work, we simulate a phase-change material (Octadecane, Pr = 50) in an enclosure using thermal lattice Boltzmann model (TLBM). Likewise, we propose a new optimization approach based on analyzing the “Potential” of the material to insure sufficient energy storage, with maintaining fewer thermodynamics losses “Perte”, and also respect the shape “Preference” and availability. Hence, we introduce the “3P” method to choose an optimum shape of the enclosure. In comparison with the entropy minimization method (EGMM), the 3P-method produces a range of aspect ratios more relevant to the desired theoretical hypothesis.