Forced convection heat transfer to phase change material slurries in circular ducts

An effective specific heat model for heat transfer in phase change material (PCM) slurries was developed, and the problem of laminar heat transfer to a PCM slurry in a circular duct with constant wall temperature was investigated. Results show that the exact form of the specific heat function is not critical as long as the latent heat is incorporated correctly within the melting temperature range. The dominant parameters were the bulk Stefan number, the degree of subcooling, and the dimensionless melting temperature range, and the effect of the specific heat ratio is very small.