Title: Towards the simulation of supercooling and convection in phase change materials using a thermal lattice Boltzmann method

Authors: Alissar Yehya; Hassane Naji

Addresses: Univ. Artois, Civil Engineering and Geo-Environment Laboratory (LGCgE - EA 4515), Technoparc Futura, F-62400 Béthune, France; Lille University Northern France, LGCgE, Lille F-59000, France ' Univ. Artois, Civil Engineering and Geo-Environment Laboratory (LGCgE - EA 4515), Technoparc Futura, F-62400 Béthune, France; Lille University Northern France, LGCgE, Lille F-59000, France

Abstract: The use of phase-change materials (PCM) in building materials is becoming increasingly used in the building sector. However, the presence of certain phenomena such as convection and supercooling may affect the fusion times and, consequently, the design of PCMs. Supercooling can have a noteworthy impact on the system performance. Moreover, convection alters the shape of the phase-front and should also be taken into account. Thereby, we propose here a thermal lattice Boltzmann model (TLBM) to simulate the phase-change problem with convection and supercooling. The numerical findings show that convection and supercooling phenomena are successfully taken into consideration. In addition, where appropriate, supercooling results exhibit a delay for the propagation of the solid-liquid interface. This proves that consideration of such a phenomenon in numerical modelling remains paramount for better design of PCM design.

Keywords: thermal lattice Boltzmann method; phase change materials; supercooling; melting; nucleation; convection.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2018.094618

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2018 Vol.18 No.5, pp.289 - 299

Received: 29 Apr 2016
Accepted: 23 Feb 2017

Published online: 10 Sep 2018 *

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