Context

PCM are materials with high latent heat; they are able to store energy while melting. Heat is then released during the solidification process. Such materials are considered by industrial partners for several applications, including passive thermal regulation of buildings.

The goal is to provide accurate methods to simulate the phase changing process, through a monolithic formulation (i.e. the same equations are solved in the solid and the liquid part). The effect of a PCM on a natural convection flow is studied by modeling a set of several PCMs.

Tools

• 2D/3D numerical solver for Navier-Stokes-Boussinesq equations, with Carman-Kozeny penalty terms,
• Combined finite element solver and Newton method,
• Implementation in the free software FreeFem++,
• Parallel computing using FFDDM library.

Results