THE LATTICE BOLTZMANN INVESTIGATION FOR THE MELTING PROCESS OF PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL IN AN INCLINING CAVITY

The solid-liquid phase transition process is of significant importance the widely usage of phase change material (PCM), including in thermal energy storage and maintaining working temperature. In this paper, a phase change lattice Boltzmann (LB) model has been established to investigate the effects of inclining angle on the melting process in a cavity filled with PCM, considering three kinds of heat flux distribution: uniform distribution, linear distribution and parabolic symmetry distribution. The simulations results show that for all the heat flux distributions, the slight clockwise rotation of cavity is able to accelerate the melting process. Furthermore, when more heat is transported into the cavity through the middle part (parabolic symmetry distribution) or bottom part (linear distribution), the effects of cavity clockwise rotation on temperature field are more than that of anticlockwise rotation.