Abstract
The present paper presents a numerical analysis concerning thermal protection characteristics of a rectangular composite cell filled with a solid-liquid phase change material (PCM) and air layer. Inside the composite cell the PCM layer is separated from air layer by a solid partition of negligible thickness. The buoyancy-induced flows developed in both the air-filled layer and the molten PCM zone inside the PCM layer were modeled as two-dimensional laminar Newtonian fluid flow adhering to the Boussinesq approximation. Meanwhile, two-dimensional conduction heat transfer was accounted for the unmelted solid PCM region. Delineation is made via a parametric simulation of the effects of the pertinent parameters: Ste (Stefan number), Sc (subcooling factor), Ra (Rayleigh number), aspect ratio of composite cell, A, and relative thickness ratio Ap/Aa, on the transient thermal protection performance of the composite cell. Results demonstrate that by means of the latent-heat absorption inside the PCM layer, heat penetration across the composite cell can be greatly retarded over an effective duration until a critical instant until the melting front of PCM reaches the partition wall. Such an effective thermal protection duration is found to be a strong function of Ra, Ste, Ap/Aa, A.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | General Papers in Heat and Mass Transfer |
Editors | F.B. Cheung, Y.A. Hassan, A. Singh |
Volume | 310 |
Edition | 8 |
Publication status | Published - 1995 |
Event | Proceedings of the 1995 30th National Heat Transfer Conference. Part 14 - Portland, OR, USA Duration: 1995 Aug 6 → 1995 Aug 8 |
Other
Other | Proceedings of the 1995 30th National Heat Transfer Conference. Part 14 |
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City | Portland, OR, USA |
Period | 95-08-06 → 95-08-08 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
- Mechanical Engineering