Turbulent heat transfer with phase change material suspensions

This paper presents an effective specific heat capacity model for turbulent heat transfer to phase change material (PCM) suspensions in a circular tube with constant wall heat flux. The model has been implemented in the form of a computer code and its numerical predictions are found to agree with previously published experimental data. Further results show that the bulk Stefan number, the non-dimensional melt temperature range and the degree of subcooling are the three parameters of importance. They also confirm that considerable reductions in wall temperatures, of the order of 50% or more, may be obtained at low to moderate Stefan numbers. For most typical cases with high wall heat fluxes, the Stefan number and the degree of subcooling determine the location of the tube where the phase change effects are predominant.