Numerical investigation of transient thermal behavior of a wall incorporating a phase change material via a hybrid scheme

This article deals with the numerical simulation of transient thermal behavior of a mortar wall containing a microencapsulated phase change material (PCM) using a hybrid finite volume/enthalpy method. Unlike explicit algorithms, the latent heat source term has been handled implicitly in the enthalpy equation. The current approach has been implemented considering a one-dimensional transient phase change problem with conduction. The numerical results agree well with available experimental results qualitatively. Subsequently, the model has been used to investigate the effect of the speed of heating or cooling on the performance of the thermal storage of PCM-Mortar during the phase-change process. The Micronal®DS5001X microcapsules containing a paraffin mixture with a melting point of 26 °C has been used to improve the heat storage capacity of a cement-mortar. Simulation results indicated that the PCM is able to enhance the solid-liquid phase change heat transfer mainly because of thermal conduction, and that rate of heating/cooling has no influence on the profile of heat flux. They also showed that the model presented here is well-suited to the thermal behavior of an encapsulated PCM embedded in a mortar wall, and it is indicated to address similar problems.