Enthalpy-porosity Technique Research Articles

Numerical investigation of a vertical finned-tube and shell energy storage system using coupled boundary condition

An energy storage system (ESS) containing phase change materials (PCMs) is one of the methods used for energy control and management. In this paper, it is numerically shown that in a vertically oriented three-dimensional finned-tube and shell ESS under a charging process when laminar HTF flows in the tube, applying coupled boundary condition (CBC) is essential and using constant wall temperature boundary condition (CWTBC), used in many previous studies, leads to high errors compared to applying CBC. Then, using CBC, the effects of fins on the charging time, tc, and different stored energy, Q, are studied comprehensively. The three-dimensional governing equations are solved using the finite volume method (FVM) and the enthalpy-porosity technique. The results showed that the minimum and maximum relative increase of the charging time resulted from applying CBC compared to that of obtained from applying CWTBC are 61.98% and 123.63%, respectively. Increasing the number of fins decreases tc, the stored energy in PCM, QPCM, and the total stored energy, Qtot (the total stored energy is the sum of energy stored in fins, QFins, and PCM, QPCM) about 73.76%, 11.21%, and 2.15%, respectively. Additionally, lowering the number of fins changes tc slightly for N > 16, hence, applying N > 16 is not recommended. With increasing the fins height, tc, QPCM, and Qtot are declined about 76.96%, 9.33%, and 5.3%, respectively. With increasing the fins thickness, tc, QPCM, and Qtot are reduced approximately 23.77%, 9.4%, and 1.56%, respectively.

CFD Model for Aircraft Ground Deicing: Verification and Validation of an Extended Enthalpy-Porosity Technique in Particulate Two Phase Flows

Researchers have focused in the last five years on modelling the aircraft ground deicing process using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) in order to reduce its costs and pollution. As preliminary efforts, those studies did not model the ice melting nor the diffusion between deicing fluids and water resulting from the melting process. This paper proposes a CFD method to simulate this process filling these gaps. A particulate two-phase flow approach is used to model the spray impact on ice near the contaminated surface. Ice melting is modelled using an extended version of the enthalpy-porosity technique. The water resulting from the melting process is diffused into the deicing fluid forming a single-phase film. This paper presents a new model of the process. The model is verified and validated through three steps. (i) verification of the species transport. (ii) validation of the transient temperature field of a mixture. (iii) validation of the convective heat transfer of an impinging spray. The permeability coefficient of the enthalpy-porosity technique is then calibrated. The proposed model proved to be a suitable candidate for a parametric study of the aircraft ground deicing process. On the validation test cases, the precision of heat transfer prediction exceeds 88%. The model has the ability of predicting the deicing time and the deicing fluid quantities needed to decontaminate a surface.

Optimization of multilayer thermal protection system by using phase change material under aerodynamic heating

• MTPSs using PCM for insulation are numerically studied. • The addition of PCM helps MTPS fulfill the thermal requirements. • PCM proportion plays a major role in the mass optimization result. • The contents of the two insulation layers affect the system differently. • The optimized designs in terms of mass and size is related to the type of PCM. A multilayer thermal protection system (MTPS) capable to work constantly during multiple launches is important for the new generation of reusable re-entry vehicles to significantly reduce launch costs and protect instruments from overheating. In this paper, phase change material (PCM) is introduced into the MTPS for the optimization purpose in terms of heat performance and structure design. The transient heat transfer characteristics of the system under aerodynamic heating is numerically analyzed, and 2D models using different insulation materials are compared to optimize the system, with respect to temperature distribution, areal density and overall thickness. The finite volume method with the enthalpy-porosity technique is used to resolve the involved multilayer heat transfer problem and the phase transition process. The thermal radiation between the system and the environment, the heat conduction through multi layers, and the convective phenomenon occurring in the PCM section are all considered. The calculation result confirms that the addition of PCM can successfully decrease the temperature of each part in the system below their maximum temperature limits (the C/SiC, Saffil and aluminum alloy layers lower than 1923.15 K, 1873.5 K and 450 K, simultaneously), accordingly help to find the optimal designs with a lighter mass and a smaller size.

Numerical study on melting of phase change material in an enclosure subject to Neumann boundary condition in the presence of Rayleigh-Bénard convection

This research study investigated the melting process of a phase change material (PCM), heated from the bottom, under Neumann boundary conditions, in the presence of Rayleigh-Bénard convection. The problem was numerically simulated for a range of domain sizes (1×1−8×8cm2) and heat fluxes (0.5−2W/cm2) using the enthalpy porosity technique, which is mostly applicable in cooling heat exchangers of electronic devices. Scaling analysis and the numerical results were employed to find the relationship between the Nusselt number and the solid-liquid interface location with other dimensionless parameters and develop correlations to predict the Nusselt number and the solid-liquid interface location for this type of melting problem. The results of this research could be used to better understand the heat transfer regimes formed during melting in an enclosure heated from the bottom and predict the Nusselt number and the solid-liquid interface location. It was found that the temperature and Nusselt number fluctuations are initiated in the coarsening subregime when the Rayleigh number was not larger than 106 and thus may not occur for small-sized domains. It can be concluded the coarsening and turbulent subregimes may not occur in small enclosures, while the melting process mostly occurs during turbulent subregiem in large enclosures. The numerical results revealed the fastest advance of heat transfer rate and consequently, solid-liquid interface occur during the formation of Bénard cells when the Rayleigh number was on the order of 104. The Nusselt number and solid-liquid interface location correlations developed in this study were later validated using two new cases of numerical data. The results revealed that these correlations could accurately predict the Nusselt number and solid-liquid interface location.

Macroscale Modeling of Solid–Liquid Phase Change in Metal Foam/Paraffin Composite: Effects of Paraffin Density Treatment, Thermal Dispersion, and Interstitial Heat Transfer

Abstract This work focuses on macroscale modeling of solid–liquid phase change in metal foam/paraffin composite (MFPC), addressing the treatment of paraffin density (under distinct paraffin filling conditions in metal foam), thermal dispersion effect, and influence of thermal diffusion-dominated interstitial heat transfer. To this end, a macroscale thermal non-equilibrium model for melting in MFPC with fluid convection is developed by employing the enthalpy-porosity technique and volume-averaging approach. Meanwhile, visualized experiments on the melting of the MFPC sample are carried out to validate the modeling results. Comparing the numerical modeling and experimental visualization results, it is found that for MFPC with an initially saturated filling condition in metal foam using solid paraffin, the varied paraffin density is preferred to be employed for developing accurate phase change model. However, for MFPC that can be just filled with liquid paraffin after melting (i.e., non-saturated filling condition using solid paraffin), the Boussinesq approximation is preferred to achieve satisfying phase change simulation. Thermal dispersion effect in MFPC is proved to be negligible, which should not be overvalued to avoid inducing physical distortions of heat transfer and fluid flow. Consideration of diffusion-dominated interstitial heat transfer in the thermal non-equilibrium model is vital to accurately capture phase interface evolutions as well as to reasonably simulate the mushy zone of paraffin, and the model only incorporating the convection-induced interstitial heat transfer will predict quite inaccurate phase change process. This study can provide useful guidance in macroscale modeling of phase change in MFPC associated with the thermal energy storage applications.

Numerical investigations of phase change material (PCM) based thermal control module (TCM) under the influence of low gravity environment

The present work aims to address the effect of gravity on the melting and solidification of phase change materials (PCM) in an optimized thermal control module (TCM) having pin fins as heat transfer enhancers. The enthalpy-porosity technique is used to model the solid-liquid phase change process and flow evaluation inside TCM. The melting and solidification processes are simulated for three-phase change materials (hexadecane, acetic acid, and glycerol) at different values of gravitational accelerations (i.e., melting at g, g/2, g/10, g/20, g/40, g/80 and solidification at g, g/80). The governing equations are non-dimensionalized, and results are reported in the form of dimensionless numbers. It is evident from the study that the gravity environment significantly influences the melting and solidification of PCM. The research shows that the value of PCM average liquid fraction gradually decreases by 18% as the value of gravitational acceleration reduces from g to g/80. The effect of the natural convection is noticeable on the melting of hexadecane and acetic acid. However, the minimal effect of natural convection was observed on the melting of glycerol due to highly viscous nature and faster heat propagation through the material. The effect of gravity on the solidification is small compared to the melting because the conduction heat transfer primarily dominates the solidification process. The present study provides information on the effect of gravity on performance parameters of the PCMs, which helps determine the size of the heat sinks operating under terrestrial and space environments.

Simulation of electromagnetic field and its effect during electromagnetic stirring in continuous casting mold

A mathematical model of in-mold electromagnetic stirrer has been developed to calculate the three-dimensional time-varying magnetic field for electromagnetic stirring in the continuous casting mold. The calculated magnetic field is coupled with the magneto-hydrodynamic and solidification model to analyze the effect of stirrer width at different current and frequency applied to the stirrer. The enthalpy porosity technique is used to track the liquid-solid transformation while the realizable k-ε turbulence model is used to account the turbulence in the fluid flow. The coupling of the time-varying electromagnetic field with solidification model makes the model complicate which leads to having divergence problem and large computation time. The model efficiently computes the electromagnetic field, fluid flow, solidification behavior of an electromagnetically stirred continuous casting mold, which have been validated against the reported results. From the initial results it is observed that magnetic flux density significantly increases with increase in stirrer width and current while, frequency has a marginal effect on magnetic flux density. The result obtained from coupled model shows that increase in frequency has a large influence on stirring intensity and hence on solidification behavior. However, stirrer width and current marginally affect the stirring intensity and solidification behavior.

Performance study of a novel funnel shaped shell and tube latent heat thermal energy storage system

The latent heat thermal energy storage system (LHTES) utilizes phase change material (PCM) to store energy. The non-uniformity in heat transfer between heat transfer fluid (HTF) and PCM along the height of the widely used vertical cylindrical shell and tube type storage tank causes a reduced thermal performance of the storage. Hence, in the present work, a passive heat transfer enhancement technique is proposed through a novel funnel shaped configuration of the shell and tube LHTES to achieve more uniform temperature distribution in the PCM as compared to the cylindrical shell and tube LHTES. Additionally, longitudinal fins are introduced in the HTF tube further to enhance the heat transfer between HTF and PCM. A numerical model is developed using the enthalpy-porosity technique to analyze the phase change phenomenon. The thermal performance of the funnel LHTES is evaluated using the first and second law of thermodynamics. The funnel LHTES with the lateral shell surface tilting up to a height of 250 mm shows higher melt fraction and energy efficiency by 11.5% and 66.6%, respectively compared to the cylindrical LHTES. The latent heat content of the funnel LHTES with a shell tilt height of 250 mm during the charging and discharging period is improved by 1.72 and 1.11 times, respectively than that of the cylindrical LHTES. A significant improvement in the rate of solidification of PCM during the discharging process is obtained with the funnel LHTES.

Water droplet freezing on cold surfaces with distinct wetabilities

This paper investigates the total freezing time of droplets on surfaces with various wettabilities with horizontal and inclined orientations. A two-dimensional Volume of Fluid (VOF) method was applied to capture the liquid-air interface, and an automatic localized grid treatment technique was applied to increase the accuracy, especially near the impact and spreading areas. The Kistler and Shikhumurzaev dynamic contact angle models were implemented to impose the dynamic contact angles on different surfaces. An enthalpy-porosity technique was used to predict the phase change of droplets after impact with the surface. The results of the nondimensional droplet diameter ratios and total freezing times for both dynamic contact angle models have been presented and verified with experimental data. The effects of both wetting properties and the surface inclination on the freezing time have been analyzed. The results indicate that a lower surface temperature, a decrease in static contact angle and a higher inclination will result in more rapid freezing of droplets.

Numerical simulation of the melting of a NePCM for cooling of electronic components

In this paper, a numerical study is carried out to investigate the melting process of a nano-enhanced phase change material (NePCM) in a latent heat thermal energy storage unit (LHTESU) with insertion of Cu nanoparticles. The use of such a strategy provides passive cooling of a protruding electronic component attached to a substrate. The governing equations of heat transfer are solved using the enthalpy-porosity technique and the finite volume method based using a personal FORTRAN code. An investigation of the effect of the PCM quantity is carried out taking into account three different values of the characteristic length lo (0.06 m, 0.08 m and 0.10 m) which represents the PCM quantity. The effect of nanoparticle characteristics, including volume fraction and shape factor on melting rate, are also discussed. The results showed that the maximum operating temperature of the electronic component decreases by 2.9 °C with an insertion of a nanoparticles fraction of 0.04 and a characteristic length of 0.08 m. For the same characteristic length, the melting time is 8630 s, 8460 s and 8290 s with nanoparticles fraction of 0.00, 0.02 and 0.04, respectively. With the nanoparticles fraction of 0.04, the amount of sensible heat stored within the PCM increases by 1.3% and the latent heat decreases by 1.1%. In addition, the insertion of nanoparticles with a shape factor of 16.1 reduces the maximum operating temperature of the electronic component by 2.5 °C. Correlations, giving the electronic component maximum working time and the plateau temperature, were developed using the asymptotic computational fluid dynamics technique (ACFD).

A more precise unified model to describe comprehensive multiphysics and multiphase phenomena in plasma arc welding

Plasma technology involves complex and coupled electric, magnetic, thermal and hydrodynamical interaction. It’s important to understand all the multiphysics mechanism for a wider industrial application. A 3D unified model was established, which includes a combination of hydrodynamical equations, heat transfer equation and electromagnetic equations, to comprehensively describe the electro-thermal conversion, electromagnetic effect, heat transfer, gas-liquid two-phase flow and solid-liquid phase change in plasma arc welding (PAW). Volume of Fluid method was used to track the gas-liquid interface of plasma arc and liquid metal pool, and an enthalpy-porosity technique was used to deal with the solid-liquid phase change during the welding process. The transient evolutions of temperature field, flow field and keyhole in the entire PAW process were predicted, and the distribution of electric potential and current density was obtained. It is found that there are high potential drop and current density near the electrode tip, which generates very high arc temperature and arc velocity. Plasma arc gradually melts the metal, then pushes the liquid metal to flow upwards along the keyhole surface, and finally penetrates through the workpiece, forming a “reversed bugle-like” configuration. Experiment was conducted with a plasma arc welding system, and it is found that both weld pool and keyhole geometry predicted by the model generally agree with experimental results. The calculated electric potential and full-penetration time also coincide with the experiment. It’s for the first time to give a relatively accurate prediction of electric potential drop and full-penetration time in unified PAW models. The research provides a deep and fundamental understanding of the comprehensive electric-magnetic-thermal-hydrodynamical multiphysics and gas-liquid-solid multiphase interaction in PAW process.

Investigating the effect of single and hybrid nanoparticles on melting of phase change material in a rectangular enclosure with finite heat source

This article presents two-dimensional (2D) transient numerical simulation and mathematical modeling of a heat sink based on nano-enhanced phase change materials (NePCMs) to study their performance for the cooling of an electronic component. n-eicosane is used as a PCM and Al2O3, ZnO, CuO and Cu are used as nanoparticles in NePCMs. An electronic component is mounted in the center of the bottom wall and which an aluminum fin simulating the role of a substrate (motherboard) occupies. The NePCM completely fills the inner part of the heat sink. The NePCM store the heat generated by the protuberant electronic component. The transient regime is numerically performed adopting the finite volume method and the enthalpy-porosity technique. It has been found that the mean heat transfer and the fluid flow structure are closely dependent on the nanoparticles type in NePCM. The addition of single NePCM, with volume fractions of 2% and 4%, decreases the electronic component operating temperature and the latent heat phase duration during which the electronic component operates safely. The hybrid NePCM shows a different behavior by decreasing the electronic component operating temperature and increasing the latent phase duration. Compared to pure PCM, by inserting a volume fraction of 4%-Cu, the electronic component working temperature decreases by 4.69% and the latent heat phase duration decreases by 3.33%. Compared to pure PCM, hybrid nanoparticle insertion of 1%-Al2O3 and 3%-Cu showed a 5.77% decrease in the electronic component operating temperature and a 31.11% increase in the latent heat phase duration. By inserting hybrid nanoparticles instead of single nanoparticles, the effective thermal effusivity of NePCM is improved by 10.85%.

Numerical investigation and experimental validation of the thermal performance enhancement of a compact finned-tube heat exchanger for efficient latent heat thermal energy storage

This paper presents a numerical study of heat transfer performance inside a compact finned-tube heat exchanger employed in latent heat storage (LHS). A three-dimensional mathematical model of the storage system was developed and validated based on experimental results of charging and discharging. The heat transfer problem during phase change was addressed by solving Navier–Stokes equations combined with enthalpy-porosity technique. Visualization of thermal process inside the storage unit, which cannot be fully realized using an experimental set-up, was carried out by exploiting simulation results. Due to the heat transfer fluid (HTF) circuit design, it was found that phase change occurs faster in the lower half of storage tank and especially in phase change material (PCM) neighboring HTF inlet. Stripes of PCM adjacent to tank walls where heat transport is slow were identified. The model was used to conduct parametric studies of the effects of the HTF inlet temperature, the flow rate, the number and the position of fins on charging and discharging performances. Concerning operation parameters, increasing HTF flow rate from 0.4 to 0.62 l/min reduces charging time by 31% and discharging time by 29%. Similarly, increasing temperature difference between HTF and PCM by 10 °C accelerates melting process by 30% and solidification process by 21%. Since charging is slower than discharging in the studied system, the influence of design parameters on charging was investigated. As a consequence, it was proven that increasing the number of fins reduces melting time and raises storage power. However, adding more than 13 complete fins to the studied device was shown to cause limited improvement. Moreover, positioning fins in the upper half of the heat exchanger has the best benefit on melting time. In addition, increasing fins thickness and changing their material from aluminum to copper was proven to reduce total melting time. Therefore, an improved design was proposed based on the previous conclusions and melting time was reduced by 9% compared to the initial configuration. Comparison of the improved compact finned-tube storage device with other LHS units found in literature showed that the non-dimensional storage time obtained with the novel configuration compares well with other well-established LHS configurations. The results of the present work provide operation and design assistance for LHS systems consisting of compact finned-tube heat exchangers intended to store heat such as solar thermal energy.

Buoyancy-driven melting and heat transfer around a horizontal cylinder in square enclosure filled with phase change material

This work primarily focuses on designing a cost effective method yielding high rate of heat transfer from a heated object to ensure the faster melting of the phase change material (PCM). A numerical investigation has been performed on the laminar natural convection from a two-dimensional heated circular cylinder confined in a square enclosure filled with a phase change material, namely, the lauric acid. In particular, the coupled momentum and energy equations are solved to delineate the influence of the geometric position of the cylinder within the square enclosure on the melt and heat transfer characteristics of the phase change material. The solid-liquid phase change is formulated using the enthalpy–porosity technique. The detailed velocity and temperature fields are visualized in terms of velocity vectors, isotherm contours, melt fraction contours, melting rate, energy storage and surface averaged Nusselt number. The results reported herein are restricted to the six distinct geometrical positions (i.e., four symmetric and two asymmetric) of the cylinder within the enclosure. The rate of convective heat transport and hence the melt fraction is found to decrease with the increasing distance of the cylinder from the base of the enclosure. In addition, the influence of the mushy zone parameter (Amush) on the melting behaviour has also been explored. The reported numerical results for the melt fraction have been correlated as a function of the melting time and the geometric positions of the heated cylinder. Finally, one can conclude that it is possible to realize an enhanced rate of melting and energy storage simply by adjusting the location of the cylinder under confinement and thus the performance of a thermal energy storage (TES) system can remarkably be improved.

Effects of fins arrangement and parameters on the consecutive melting and solidification of PCM in a latent heat storage unit

Abstract This study is to investigate the characteristics of consecutive melting and solidification of a phase change material (PCM) in a horizontal double tube LHS unit. Fins is used to improve the heat transfer rate on the PCM due to its low thermal conductivity. A two-dimensional symmetric simulation model with considering natural convection is established. Enthalpy-porosity technique is used for modeling the phase change process. The effects of fins arrangements, number (N) and length (L) on the heat storage performance were studied. In addition, the effect of outer shell material of the finned LHS unit was studied. Moreover, the interactions among N, L, outer shell material and fins arrangement are considered. Results show that the fins of straight design shows a higher heat transfer enhancement than other arrangements, especially for the cases with small fins number (N

Thermal Modeling of Transport Phenomena for a Pulsed Laser Melting Process

Single pulsed laser melting in a cylindrical titanium alloy work piece is studied numerically using an axisymmetric model. Finite volume method and Tri-Diagonal Matrix Algorithm (TDMA) are used for discretization of the energy equation and solving the resulting algebraic equation respectively in order to obtain temperature distribution inside the computational domain. Heat losses from the irradiated surface takes place through convection and radiation and other surfaces are kept insulated. A volumetric and Gaussian laser is irradiated on the work piece. Validation of the present model with the existing literature is done first and the results agree very well. Then, the detailed transport phenomena during the laser melting process is studied using the model. The enthalpy porosity technique is used track the melt pool shape and size. The role of natural convection and Marangoni convection in controlling the shape of melt pool is discussed. Maximum temperature results at domain centre and it then decreases exponentially along the axial and radial direction of the work piece because of Gaussian nature of the pulse. The numerical results obtained can provide the direction to develop models for all type of laser applications used in the industry.

Role of Marangoni Convection in a Repetitive Laser Melting Process

To effectively interpret the fluid flow dynamics in the molten metal pool, a numerical model was established. The moving repetitive Gaussian laser pulse is irradiated in the work piece. The consideration of laser scanning speed makes the transport phenomena complex. The continuity and momentum equations are solved to get the flow velocity of the molten metal in the melt pool. The energy equation is solved to know the temperature field in the work piece. The algebraic equations obtained after discretization of the governing equations by Finite Volume Method (FVM) are then solved by the Tri Diagonal Matrix Method. Enthalpy-porosity technique is used to capture the position of the melt front which determines the shape of the melt pool. Marangoni convection is considered to know its effect on the shape of the melt pool. The surface tension coefficient is taken as both positive and negative value while calculating the Marangoni force. The two possible cases will cause the Marangoni force to distort the flow dynamics in the melt pool . It's dominance over the buoyancy force in controlling the melt pool shape is focused in the present study. Further, the present model will present an insight to the consequences of laser scanning velocity over the melt pool dimensions and shape.

Study on the effect of multiple spiral fins for improved phase change process

The finned cylindrical annulus is an efficient latent heat thermal energy storage system which can significantly improve the low thermal conduction of phase change materials. In this study, for improving the low thermal conduction of PCM, the enhancement efficiency of the novel multiple spiral fins compared with longitudinal fins has been numerically investigated. The enthalpy-porosity technique is used to study the heat transfer and phase change process of this transient model. The melting and solidification rates of PCM in the annulus with 4, 8, 16 spiral fins and three kinds of distortion degrees of fins have been discussed. Results show that the total melting time and solidification time of PCM in annulus with spiral fins could be maximally saved to 57.60% and 74.13% compared to the longitudinal fins when the fin number is fixed. When the distortion degree is the same, the melting time and solidification time could be maximally saved to 60.88% and 73.49% compared to 4 fins. Besides, fin spacing is used to describe the overall effect of fin number and distortion degree. The similar fin spacing which is consisted of different fin numbers and distortion degrees would achieve a similar heat transfer process.

Study of the usability of sinusoidal function heat flux based on enthalpy-porosity technique for PCM-related applications

The present study summarizes a two-dimensional (2D) numerical simulation of a phase change material (PCM) melting/solidification processes in a square cavity. The objectives of this study are to study and compare the effect of the application of different applied thermal boundary conditions such as constant or variable thermal flux during the melting and solidification processes of a PCM. Here, the convective heat transfer is taken into account according to the Boussinesq approximation. The commercial code COMSOL Multiphysics is used, and the “Voller model” based on the enthalpy-porosity technique is applied on a fixed computational grid. Results presented in terms of solid–liquid fraction, flow structure, isotherms, and stored and released thermal energy have shown that the melting time for the applied variable heat flux is reduced compared to that of constant heat applied flux. In addition, it was found that the PCM melting time was shorter than the solidification time. Therefore, the use of variable (sinusoidal) heat flux conditions can be useful in engineering applications such as thermal energy storage applications (PCM life cycle test, solar energy where a variable heat flow is involved due to the change of day).

Numerical assessment of brick walls` use incorporating a phase change material towards thermal performance in buildings during a passive cooling strategy

The integration of new building materials incorporating phase change material (PCM) into the building envelope leads to an increase of the heat storage capacity, which may have an influence on minimizing the cooling demand and heating of the building. This work addresses a thermal performance enhancement of brick walls with incorporated PCM. The improvement has been assessed through a numerical approach in dealing with a 1-D transient conduction problem with phase change, while leaning on experimental results from a transient guarded hot plates method. The simulations have been fulfilled using a hybrid method combining both the finite volume method and an enthalpy porosity technique. The results of this combined approach are in good agreement. In the light of the findings obtained, it appears that PCM incorporation into a brick masonry can both reduce peak temperatures up to 3?C and smooth out daily fluctuations. Thereby, the evaluation achieved can turns out useful in developing brick walls with an incorporated PCM for passive cooling, thus improving buildings thermal performance.