Abstract
This paper addresses the melting of phase change solid sphere, which motivates researchers to develop new thermal energy storage (TES) systems techniques. Phase change materials can store or release large amounts of heat in short intervals of time, thus improving the thermal performance of cooling and heating systems in buildings and regulate the temperature of PV systems, batteries and other electronic components. We have considered a convective spherical Stefan problem with thermal conductivity as a function of time and temperature. The heat balance integral method (HBIM) is used to find the problem’s solution numerically. The temperature profile is approximated by using n degree polynomial. The influence of governing parameters on the location of melting front and temperature profile is discussed thoroughly. The parameters depict that transition from solid to liquid phase becomes fast for higher values of Stefan number while the transition rate slows down for larger values of Peclet number. The melting rate increases from 20% to 80% when Stefan number rises from 0.1 to 1.0 at a particular time. Moreover, a comparative study of the proposed model with some existing models is being done. It is observed that moving melting front for the assumed problem undergoes a fast melting process.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
This manuscript has no associated data.
Abbreviations
- r :
-
Radial distance (m)
- \(R_0\) :
-
Radius of sphere (m)
- t :
-
Time (s)
- R(t):
-
Moving melting front position
- \(\rho\) :
-
Density \(({\text{Kg} \text{ m }}^{-3})\)
- c :
-
Specific heat \(({\text{J} \text{ kg }}^{-1}{\text{ K }}^{-1})\)
- k :
-
Thermal conductivity
- h :
-
Latent heat (\({\text{J} \text{ kg }}^{-1}\))
- \(T_{\rm m}\) :
-
Melting temperature (K)
- T :
-
Temperature (K)
- Pe:
-
Peclet number
- \(\delta\) :
-
Thermal diffusivity \(({\text{m}}^2{\text{ s }}^{-1})\)
- Ste:
-
Stefan number
- \(\theta\) :
-
Transformed temperature
- \(k_0\) :
-
Reference thermal conductivity \(({\text{W} \text{ m }}^{-1}{\text{ K }}^{-1})\)
- u :
-
Velocity \(({\text{ ms }}^{-1})\)
References
R S Saif, M Zaman and M Ayaz Commun. Theor. Phys. 74 015801 (2021)
R S Saif and T Muhammad Waves Random Complex Media 1–21 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1080/17455030.2023.2193848
T Singla, B Kumar and S Sharma Int. J. Mod. Phys. B. 2350111 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217979223501114
T Singla, S Sharma and B Kumar B Proc. Inst. Mech. 09544089221145930 (2023) https://doi.org/10.1177/09544089221145930
Z Asghar, R S Saif and A Z Ghaffari Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part C 237 1088 (2023)
T Singla, S Sharma and B Kumar Int. J. Mod. Phys. B. (2023) https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217979224500930
M Hafeez, R Sajjad and Hashim Adv. Mech. Eng. 13 16878140211021288 (2021)
R S Saif, M Haneef, M Nawaz and T Muhammad Chem. Phys. Lett. 813 140293 (2023)
Y Gao and X Meng J. Energy Storage 62 106913 (2023)
J M Hill One-dimensional Stefan problems: an introduction Longman Sc & Tech. (1987)
S C Gupta The classical Stefan problem: basic concepts, modelling and analysis with quasi-analytical solutions and methods Elsevier (2017)
J Crank Free and moving boundary problems Oxford University Press (1984)
R Kaur, A Chandra and S Sharma Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 36 2250130 (2022)
S Cho and J Sunderland J Heat Transf. 96 214 (1974)
D Oliver and J Sunderland Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 30 2657 (1987)
P Tritscher and P Broadbridge Int. J. Heat Mass Transf. 37 2113 (1994)
A C Briozzo, M F Natale and D A Tarzia Nonlinear Anal. Theory Methods Appl. 67 1989 (2007)
A C Briozzo and M F Natale J. Appl. Anal. 21 89 (2015)
M Hussein and D Lesnic Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf. 53 154 (2014)
M Huntul and D Lesnic Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf. 85 147 (2017)
A Kumar and A K Singh J. King Saud Univ. Sci. 32 97 (2020)
V Chaurasiya, R K Chaudhary, M M Awad and J Singh Eur. Phys. J. Plus 137 714 (2022)
V Chaurasiya, R Kumar Chaudhary, A Wakif and J Singh Waves Random Complex Media (2022) https://doi.org/10.1080/17455030.2022.2092913
V Chaurasiya, A Wakif, N A Shah and J Singh Int. Commun. Heat Mass Transf. 138 106312 (2022)
S A Kassabek and D Suragan J. Comput. Appl. Math. 421 114854 (2023)
M C Casabán, R Company and L Jódar Math. Comput. Simul. 205 878 (2023)
S D Roscani, K Ryszewska and L Venturato SIAM J. Math. Anal. 54 5489 (2022)
M Parhizi and A Jain Int. J. Therm. Sci. 172 107262 (2022)
F Mebarek-Oudina and I Chabani Energies 16 1066 (2023)
S Gourari, F Mebarek-Oudina, O D Makinde and M Rabhi Defect Diffus. Forum, Trans Tech Publications Ltd. 409 39 (2021)
R Kunwer and S S Bhurat Mater. Today Proc. 50 1690 (2022)
H Ribera, T G Myers and M M MacDevette Appl. Math. Comput. 354 216 (2019)
A N Ceretani, N N Salva and D A Tarzia Nonlinear Anal. Real World Appl. 40 243 (2018)
J Bollati and A C Briozzo Int. J. Non Linear Mech. 134 103732 (2021)
A Kumar Appl. Math. Comput. 386 125490 (2020)
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by SERB-POWER SPG/2021/000591 funded by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) and by the DST-FIST (Govt. of India) for the grant SR/FIST/MS-1/2017/13.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors state that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Singla, T., Kumar, B. & Sharma, S. Numerical study of the melting process of spherical phase change material with variable thermal conductivity. Indian J Phys 98, 1355–1363 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12648-023-02886-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12648-023-02886-7