Total solidification time of a liquid phase change material enclosed in cylindrical/spherical containers

Abstract

This study investigates the inward solidification problem of a phase change material (PCM) encapsulated in a cylindrical/spherical container with a third kind of boundary condition. The governing dimensionless equations of the problem and boundary conditions are formulated and solved numerically by using enthalpy method with control volume approach. The problem is solved many times for different values of the affecting parameters and data sets are obtained for dimensionless total solidification time of the PCM. These data sets are then used to derive correlations which express the dimensionless total solidification time of the PCM in terms of Stefan Number, Biot Number and Superheat Parameter.