Stagnation-line melting of ice cylinders transverse to warm air flow

Abstract

A model for the melting of ice cylinders transverse to a warm air stream is presented, in which the ice layer is assumed to break at the stagnation line. This work has been conducted in an attempt to model an earlier experimental study and as a first step in modelling warm-air defrosting of heat pump evaporators. It was recognized that the critical circular ice cylinder cross-section would change, as the melting progressed, to an ellipse, resulting in increased heat transfer such that the melting rate remained approximately constant with decrease in cylinder size. The results compared favourably with the experimental values.