Modeling of frost formation over parallel cold plates considering a two-dimensional growth rate

•A novel two-dimensional frost growth rate is detailed.•Two-dimensional frost growth rate can be leads to a more physically realistic frost growth in a future application in more complex geometry.•A new computation domain is required.

In this study, a frost formation model is presented based on a new two-dimensional approach for the growth rate. For modeling the frost formation over parallel cold plates, the basic transport equations of mass, energy and momentum have been discretized using the finite volume method in a two-dimensional domain in which air and frost are considered. A fixed grid formulation is used to deal with the air–frost moving boundary. An extended domain in the inlet boundary has been considered in order to study the frost formation in the leading edge of the plate. The numerical results have been validated against experimental data in which frost growth and temperature as a function of time are reported as local values. The model predictions of the frost thickness as a function of time agree with the experimental data within 10% of deviation for the case of intermediate plate temperature.