Modelling of a Phase Change Material melting process heated from below using spectral collocation methods

Purpose – Mathematical and numerical models are developed to study the melting of a Phase Change Material (PCM) inside a 2D cavity. The bottom of the cell is heated at constant and uniform temperature or heat flux, assuming that the rest of the cavity is completely adiabatic. The paper used suitable numerical methods to follow the interface temporal evolution with a good accuracy. The purpose of this paper is to show how the evolution of the latent energy absorbed to melt the PCM depends on the temperature imposed on the lower wall of the cavity. Design/methodology/approach – The problem is written with non-homogeneous boundary conditions. Momentum and energy equations are numerically solved in space by a spectral collocation method especially oriented to this situation. A Crank-Nicolson scheme permits the resolution in time. Findings – The results clearly show the evolution of multicellular regime during the process of fusion and the kinetics of phase change depends on the boundary condition imposed on t...