Numerical Simulation of Water Droplet Freezing Process on Cold Surface

Abstract

It is significant to clearly understand the freezing process of water droplets on a cold substrate for the prevention of ice accretion. In this study, a three-dimensional numerical model including an extended phase change method was developed on OpenFOAM platform to simulate the freezing of static water droplets on cooled solid substrates. The predicted freezing process was compared with numerical results obtained by others. Good agreements were obtained and our numerical model results in faster convergence compared to the traditional phase change method. The effects of surface wettability on freezing time and freezing velocity were numerically investigated. The results show that the freezing time presents a positive relationship with contact angle due to the smaller contact area with higher contact angle, which agrees well with the theoretical analysis. Besides, the empirical relation between freezing time and contact angle were obtained.