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PCM Simulation Issues and Solutions

The document describes a numerical simulation of the unconstrained melting of a phase change material (PCM) using ANSYS Fluent. It summarizes the: 1) Material properties of the PCM and air used in the simulation; 2) Fluent setup including the solver configuration, models, cell zone conditions, boundary conditions and meshing approach; and 3) Problem observed that the liquid PCM is not sinking to the bottom of the container as expected.

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SSr Reddy
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48 views3 pages

PCM Simulation Issues and Solutions

The document describes a numerical simulation of the unconstrained melting of a phase change material (PCM) using ANSYS Fluent. It summarizes the: 1) Material properties of the PCM and air used in the simulation; 2) Fluent setup including the solver configuration, models, cell zone conditions, boundary conditions and meshing approach; and 3) Problem observed that the liquid PCM is not sinking to the bottom of the container as expected.

Uploaded by

SSr Reddy
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Unconstrained Melting

Properties (Interrupted using UDF)


PCM:
solid_temp 329.
liquid_temp 331.00
Density:
900 in solid temp
773 in liquid temp
Thermal conductivity:
0.269 in solid temp
0.167 in liquid temp
Viscosity:
0.03 in solid temp
0.029 in liquid temp
Specific Heat:
2950 in solid temp
2464 in liquid temp
Air:
Variable density relation with temp
Other properties is taken from fluent database
Container wall : aluminum)
All properties used as the fluent database.

Fluent setup
General:
Solver Pressure Based, Time unsteady, Gravity checked (-9.81 in Y direction), 2D-space
Planner.
Models:
Multiphase model (VOF) with 2 eulerian phase , Solidification & melting.
Phases:
Air-primary, PCM- secondary.
Cell zone condition:
Zone (PCM) Phase(mixture) source terms(enabled) with UDF where Amush= 1.0e5
( )

( )
DEFINE_SOURCE(xmom_source,c,t,dS,eqn)
{
Thread *sec_th;
real source;
sec_th = THREAD_SUB_THREAD(t,1); /*To define the Phase 2 (PCM) liquid domain from Fluent*/
mimic= constant_source * (1.0-C_LIQF(c,sec_th))*(1.0-C_LIQF(c,sec_th))/(C_LIQF(c,sec_th)*C_LIQF(c,sec_th)*C_LIQF(c,sec_th)+0.001);
if (C_VOF(c,sec_th) > 0.0){
if (C_T(c,sec_th)>=liquid_temp){
source = -1.0*mimic*C_U(c,sec_th); /*C_U(c,t) used to collect cell X velocity from Fluent*/
dS[eqn]=-1.0*mimic;
}
}
else
source=dS[eqn]=0.0;
return source;
The Y moment source is similar except the Y velocity of PCM zone in liquid phase.
Boundary condition:
Outer wall of container 365k (wall boundary)
Upper surface of PCM- (pressure outlet with 0 gauge pressure and 0 backflow of second phase)
Top of the container (solid wall) was adiabatic.
Mesh interface:
Inner wall of Container and outer wall of PCM wall were coupled to make the interface between
container wall (solid) and PCM (fluid)
Solution method:
Scheme: SIMPLE,
Discretization for pressure PRESTO, for Moment QUICK, for Energy QUICK, for volume
fraction Geo-Reconstruct.
Solution control: by default.
Solution initialization : Hybrid, Patch : 300k for PCM and solid, volume fraction 1 to second
phase PCM (by adopting surface of 70% PCM in the container, 30% air)

After run the simulation I have found the following pics of liquid fraction:
PROBLEMS

1. The PCM is not sinking on the bottom of the container. How could I make it to sink? Do I
have to add any momentum in the solid region of the PCM?

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