Solidification Of Nano-enhanced Phase Change Material (nepcm) In An Enclosure

Abstract

The effects of nanoparticle dispersion ( 0,0.025,0.05   ) on solidification of different type of mixture of nanofluids namely, Cu-water, TiO2-Water and Al2O3-Water nanofluid inside a vertical enclosure are investigated numerically for different Grashof number ( 4 5 6 10 ,10 ,10 Gr ). An enthalpy porosity technique is used to trace the solid and liquid interface. Comparisons with previously published works show the accuracy of the obtained results. A maximum of 16% decrease in solidification time for Gr=10 6 in comparison with Gr=10 5 was found with the Cu nanoparticles and 0.2% volume fraction. It was observed that dispersion of nanoparticles can be used to control the solidification time based on enhancing conduction heat transfer mechanism of solidification.