ANALYSIS OF FORCED-CONVECTION HEAT-TRANSFER IN MICROENCAPSULATED PHASE-CHANGE MATERIAL SUSPENSIONS

A numerical solution of laminar forced convection heat transfer of a microencapsulated phase change material suspension in a circular tube with constant heat flux has been presented in this article. Melting in the microcapsule was solved by a temperature transforming model instead of a quasisteady model. The effects of the microcapsules crust, the initial subcooling, and the width of the phase change temperature range on the variation of the dimensionless tube wall temperatures, along the axial direction, were also considered in the present model. The agreement between the present numerical results and the experimental results is very good.