Effect of vibration on the melting of phase change material inside a cylindrical enclosure

Abstract

The present study reports a novel numerical work on the melting of phase change material (PCM) inside a cylindrical enclosure under the application of vibration. No such work is available in the existing literature. To simulate the melting of PCM inside a vertical cylindrical enclosure, the governing equations, namely, the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy equations are solved. In addition to that enthalpy-porosity method is used to model phase change of PCM. COMSOL Multiphysics software is used to simulate the melting behaviour of a PCM during vibration conditions. The objective of the present work is to observe the melting behaviour under the application of vibration. Melting behaviour of PCM inside a vertical cylindrical enclosure has been simulated first without vibration for comparison purpose. It has been observed that vibration affects the melting behaviour significantly. This study is applicable to battery thermal management for the hybrid vehicles where PCM can be used for controlling the temperature of the battery.