Physical treatment of PCM in existence of nanoparticles during discharging

Abstract

This work includes the finite element modeling of solidification process within the container with curved top wall. The container has three insulated wall and one cold wall which is situated on top wall and it has sinusoidal configuration. Nanoparticles with low fraction were loaded inside the water to improve the thermal features. In deriving the mathematical model, two main assumptions were incorporated: (1) neglecting the impact of velocity; (2) considering homogeneous mixture for NEPCM. To improve the accuracy of numerical approach, the variable style of grid with time has been employed and also, implicit method was considered for time-dependent two terms. Increasing fraction of nano-powders has its maximum effect when the second level of dp has been selected in which required time reduces around 41.33%. Also, in existence of maximum size of particles, changing [Formula: see text] causes reduction of time around 12.41%. With altering dp from 30 to 40[Formula: see text]nm, the freezing period reduces around 19.99% while augmenting up to 50[Formula: see text]nm can lead to reduction of time around 49.29%.