Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of the Melting Process of Ice Particles

Abstract

In this study, the melting process of nonspherical and spherical ice particles was investigated. Individual ice particles were suspended in an acoustic levitator placed in a chest freezer. Melting of the particles was initiated by directing a warm stream of air with controlled temperature, flow rate, and relative humidity toward them. Tests were conducted at 13 different flow conditions. The melting process was recorded by a high-speed video camera. Datasets of 222 individual melting events were collected. From the images, the melting time and the cross-sectional area of the ice particles during melting were measured. Furthermore, a method is presented that allows an approximate calculation of the initial mass of the ice particles based on the postmelting evolutions of the cross-sectional area. Theoretical melting times were calculated based on a model for spherical and nonspherical particles and were compared with the experimental melting times. The model was validated with spherical ice particles, and its predictions of melting times of nonspherical ice particles agreed very well with the experimental data.