Moving boundary problem: heat conduction in the solid phase of a phase-change material during melting driven by natural convection in the liquid

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the melting process in a rectangular enclosure, driven by the coupling of heat conduction in the solid phase and natural convection in the melt of the phase-change material (PCM). The numerical solution of the problem which is presented here is validated by comparison with precise experimental results. Heat conduction in the solid phase is shown to significantly modify the kinetics of the melting process compared with previous studies on phase change with isothermal solid phase.

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