Expedition of melting of paraffin within heat storage system in existence of nanomaterial and curved enclosure

Abstract

In this research, melting phenomena in a container with two fin lengths (L*) were examined. It was hypothesized that the homogenous combination of RT35 and Cu nanoparticles was a nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM). To demonstrate the effects of adding Cu, L*, and Stefan number (Ste), several situations were studied. A computational approach based on a structural mesh was used to simulate present unsteady modeling. The best values for the mesh dimensions and time step (Δt) were established after considering a variety of circumstances in an effort to bring the computational cost down to an acceptable level. To verify the assessment, empirical records were checked, and it was stated that excellent correlations were available. Higher Ste, and lower L* case is more effective in terms of melting. The value of the liquid fraction (LF) was 0.57, the highest share of the other cases, for L* = 5, φ=4%, and Ste = 0.17 after 900 s from the beginning of process, while the lowest percentage was calculated 0.16 for the case without fin (the plain tube) with the pure PCM and Ste = 0.05. When 4 % Cu is added to pure PCM in the tube with L* = 5 over 900 s, the LF increases by 15.80 % for the Ste of 0.17.