Abstract
Two-dimensional numerical simulation is performed aiming to understand the role of buoyancy force convection during restricted solidification of phase change materials (PCMs) inside a shell and tube heat exchanger according to annulus cross section. Where the transient history of PCM solidification evolution was studied. The governing equations of mass, momentum and energy are solved to study the solidification behavior inside the annulus geometry. The fluid flow in the mushy zone was accounted for using the Darcy drag source term in momentum, and the liquid percentage in each cell was updated using the enthalpy-porosity method. Thermal conditions of the outer cylinder insulated (adiabatic) and the inner cylinder at constant temperature (isothermal). The results are presents as a temperature contour and liquid fraction distribution in the domain. The predicted result shows the capturing phenomenon: primary heat conduction in all regions, then heat convection and conduction become dominant in the top and bottom regions, respectively. The max. and min. temperature changes near the outer pipe surface during 16 hrs. are 56.25% and 42.5%, respectively.
Highlights
Thermal energy storage (TES) plays a significant role in energy conservation and the development of renewable resources
Two-dimensional numerical simulation is performed aiming to understand the role of buoyancy force convection during restricted solidification of phase change materials (PCMs) inside a shell and tube heat exchanger according to annulus cross section
Wang et al [4] presented a numerical investigation to study the influences of the mass flow rate of heat transfer fluid (HTF) and temperature variation between the inlet of water and fusion point of PCM on the melting and solidification behaviors in axis-symmetric of shell and tube latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) system
Summary
Thermal energy storage (TES) plays a significant role in energy conservation and the development of renewable resources. Mahdi et al [5] numerically studied the melting and solidification performance of a PCM (paraffin wax RT-50) location in a double-pipe heat exchanger where in the first model they used the shell side for PCM and the tube for heat transfer fluid (HTF), whereas they used the opposite in the second model. Their results indicated that the charging time for a second model decreased by up to 50% when compared with the first model due to the high influence of convection. The focus of this study is to evaluate natural convection effects during melting of paraffin wax in double pipe heat exchange systems
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