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CHT'97 - Advances in Computational Heat Transfer. Proceedings of the International Symposium
May, 26-30, 1997 , Çesme, Turkey

DOI: 10.1615/ICHMT.1997.IntSymLiqTwoPhaseFlowTranspPhenCHT


ISBN Print: 978-1-56700-115-0

ISSN: 2578-5486

EFFECTS OF BUOYANCY-DRIVEN CONVECTION ON MELTING WITHIN SPHERES

page 8
DOI: 10.1615/ICHMT.1997.IntSymLiqTwoPhaseFlowTranspPhenCHT.530
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ABSTRACT

A computational study of the melting of a low-Prandtl number pure material within spherical containers is presented. The computations are based on an iterative, finite-volume numerical procedure using primitive dependent variables, whereby the time-dependent continuity, momentum and energy equations in the spherical coordinate system are solved. Natural convection effect is modeled via the Boussinesq approximation. Computational cases for silicon (Pr = 0.03) covering a wide range of the Rayleigh number were obtained. During the early periods of the melting process, conduction mode of heat transfer is very dominant giving rise to concentric temperature contours. As the buoyancy-driven convection is strengthened due to the growth of the melt zone, melting in the top region of the sphere is observed to be much faster than the rest of the sphere. This is explained in terms of the enhancement and counteracting the conduction mode of heat transfer in the respective zones. When buoyancy effects are very marked, as many of as three recirculating vortices are observed due to the skewedness of the temperature field.

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