Numerical approach to describe the phase change of an inorganic PCM containing carbon fibres

In this paper both thermal conductivity and charging–discharging kinetics of an inorganic PCM44 containing carbon fibres have been evaluated. By application of the hot wire method it is observed that thermal conductivity of composite linearly increases as the carbon fibre loading increases. As expected, the charging–discharging kinetic was significantly improved in the presence of carbon fibres. A Crank–Nicolson’s numerical computational model, based on an enthalpy formulation, which describes the phase change is proposed. The model was developed to predict the time and radial behaviors of thermal profiles of a composite material. In our specific case the proposed model is a promising tool to describe the charging–discharging kinetic measurements of phase change composite when the loading of carbon fibres is lower than 7 wt.% and the composite can be considered still homogeneous.