Microcomputer analysis of solid/liquid phase change heat transfer

Abstract

The development of a microcomputer based finite element program featuring phase change (melting and freezing) simulation and facilities is outlined. A closed form Galerkin finite element method derived from a delta function formulation of the latent heat discontinuity in the heat capacity versus temperature function is used within phase change elements of the solution domain. Storage reduction data structures are implemented and compared on the basis of overall program execution time. Analytical solutions for melting and freezing are used to vertify program accuracy and to explore other simulation parameters such as time step size, mesh density and start-up technique. Several “life like” phase change simulations are compared to the results obtained from other numerical models.