ANALYSIS OF NATURAL CONVECTION MELTING OF A VERTICAL ICE CYLINDER INVOLVING DENSITY ANOMALY

Abstract

A numerical study is reported of natural convection melting of ice within a vertical cylinder. A stream function‐vorticity‐temperature formulation is employed in conjunction with body‐fitted coordinates for tracking the irregular shape of the timewise varying solid‐liquid interface. A parabolic density profile versus temperature is assumed for water. Numerical experiments are carried out for a temperature of the cylinder wall ranging from 4°C to 10°C. Results show that natural convection heat transfer involving density anomaly leads to complex flow patterns and strongly affects the time evolution of the phase front. The maximum Nusselt number at the heated cylinder wall is obtained for Tw = 4°C while the minimum is observed for Tw = 8°C.

Citation

WU, Y. and LACROIX, M. (1993), "ANALYSIS OF NATURAL CONVECTION MELTING OF A VERTICAL ICE CYLINDER INVOLVING DENSITY ANOMALY", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 3 No. 5, pp. 445-456. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb017541