Study of Combined Effect of Inclination and Partial Fins on Melting of Phase Change Material in A Rectangular Enclosure Using CFD

Abstract

This study presents the combined effect of inclination and internal fins on the melting rate of PCM in a rectangular enclosure (8.89cm×6.35cm). The rectangular enclosure has a hot wall with a temperature of 311K, a cold wall with a temperature of 301.3K and the other two walls are insulated. Gallium with very low Prandtl number is taken as the PCM in this study. First, the individual effects of different inclinations (0⁰, 45⁰ and 90⁰) of the enclosure on melting rate of PCM are studied followed by the study of the effect of internal fins. Then we provide a combined environment of inclination and partial fins and obtain the results of liquid fraction, velocity contours and temperature distributions. Plots for the liquid fraction and average temperatures with respect to time are also obtained. Finally, the results and plots of the combined effect are compared with those of other conditions. From the comparison, we conclude that the combined effect of inclination and partial fins under constant normal gravity condition greatly enhances the heat transfer in PCM.