Melting heat transfer characteristics of a horizontal ice cylinder immersed in an immiscible liquid

Abstract

The melting characteristics of a horizontal ice cylinder immersed in an immiscible liquid were investigated both experimentally and analytically. A clear cylindrical ice layer formed around a horizontal cooling tube with a coaxial outer heated tube was melted in oil as the test immiscible liquid in the annulus between the ice and outer tube. Both the melting behavior of ice and the flow patterns of the immiscible liquid were observed under a variety of outer wall temperature conditions. In the analysis, two boundary layers were introduced for both the melt water film and ambient liquid, respectively. It was found from the experiments that the tendency of the mean Nusselt number changes clearly at Ra = 10 6 , which corresponds to the temperature condition To = 12.0 °C. This analysis might be used to estimate the melting characteristics of such a system during the initial stage oflow temperature conditions.