Numerical solution of the phase change problem around a horizontal cylinder in the presence of natural convection in the melt region

This paper deals with the numerical study of melting of phase change material around a horizontal circular cylinder in the presence of the natural convection in the melt phase. A two dimensional unsteady mathematical model has been formulated in terms of primitive variables and a coordinate transformation technique has been used to fix the moving front. The finite volume approach was used to discretize the system of governing equations, boundary and initial conditions and obtain a system of linear algebraic equations. In the numerical solution an implicit scheme was used for the momentum and energy equations and an explicit scheme for the energy balance at the interface. The numerical predictions were compared with available results to establish the validity of the model and the numerical approach.