‘Applied Energy 257 (2020) 113998, Contents lists available at ScienceDisect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locatelapeneray Solidification enhancement with multiple PCMs, cascaded metal foam and nanoparticles in the shell-and-tube energy storage system Jasim M. Mahdi’, Hayder I, Mohammed”, Emad T. Hashim’, Pouyan Talebizadehsardari’, Emmanuel C. Nsofor* ‘sere of Ey geri. Unberiy of Baha. egg Spare of Pos, Cl of Sw ners ara, Kr “foray of Eger te Cet fam etna Ute ign Depron of Mec Begin nl Eegy Pree, Saher es Unive, Cab, SA © Nanoparticles in muls-PCMs with cascade foam for energy storage were suid * Solidicaton ofthe PCB was modeled and validated via previous experiments * Hole of mnoparticles with eaeaded fom fr improved sldification was revealed * Cascade fos shoves better sliieation enhancement potential han naopareles ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Nonnt he thera eps of te aelandhe ear rage yon coming of kil anges ing Sion arse pc chngs materials (NI) of iferen mein poms a in Napa in PM of sine et olume fon with cascaded (mule) metal foam of serge pray 095 were applied the het amma ‘transfer enhancement. A simulation model that accounts for the non-Darcy effects of cascaded foam and ocr rowniaa mein of spares wo developed sd valiated with previo experienc The pac portorrhe of sing erent eangemens of mane Pe, mle PEN with anoles and me POMS ith ‘ssc oa on he te ted saiieton even ns vette. The mode combins mile CMs with ecaed foam showed he est thea esponse ate Canard othe module sng PCM wth to mnoyariceor cad fm, th fl softies apo 94% depending on he bro ‘le Pets dumber fenced fm tegen: Ahoigh ication ne cress the mb foam segs anor name of mile Poses, the nce of adage smal omer of mie Ms and am segments recommended. This rece eign mans anoited with canadng of he a7 where Tag i the reference temperature (Tag = 298K) (8) this Sus, RTO was used as the reference POM. Te i of the multiple PMs with thee theemophsial properties as provide by the man factier [6] along withthe nominal termo-phyial properties of he lumina nanoparticles and eascaded aluminum fam are summariedin Table 4. Thee vale ae ceded in developing the umes! soliton of the governing diferent equntione. 3.3. Governing equations for the cases of multiple PCMs with cascaded foam Continuity v=o as) Momentum in the e-izection: fan (2 + Leas) a =v + Sy HB BSIN OT ~ Ty) ~ Ante ") i as) Momentum in the direction: a fex(St 4 Lov-va) Ga AP _ (Ho Bee (Kk 20) Energy: Are egy 257 (200) 113985 len # = 6 aN + 6,7 a =P ~ 6D pon co where the subscripts pem and mf refers to the PCM and metal foam, respectively eis the porosity of Aluminum metal foam, i the velocity component in the ralirection, uy is the velocity component in the 0: direction, Tis temperature, sis dynamic viscosity, P is effective pres sute, Gs specific heat, p Is density, Bs the thermal expansion coef ficient and L is latent heat. An isthe mushy zone constant which co- trols the velocity change when the phase change occurs. Ay, has values that lie between 10* and 10°° depending on the type of the PCM. the {temperature difference between the PCM and the HTF, and the seale of the simulations [51-53]. According to Shmuelt et al. [51], the most widely accepted values of fy By researchers ae around 10° and 10°. In this present study, ii found thatthe value of Ay, = 10° gives the best match forthe results of the study by Atal eta), which was used in the validation of the model in this present. K is permeability, Gy Is inertial coefficient, and kis effective thermal conductivity. 8 is a constant small number (0.001) to prevent division by zero and 3s I quid fraction defined as: 0. Tst (P= TMH= 1) heh 1 Tet ‘The structure of the metal foam depends on parameters such as porosity c, pore density ws, and ligament diameter di, Porosity () i the ratio of the pore volume to the foam total volume of pores and liga rents. Pore density (@) is the number of pores per linear inch (PPD. Ligament diameter (4) ‘estimated based on the pore sized, sing the 0254(m)/0(PPD). ‘and inertial coefficient of the metal foam were determined based on the model used by Calmidi and Mahajan [55], Le: K F sors) % ea * “(aye 4 eo ‘The thermal conductivity ofthe PCM was caleulated based on the ‘model provided by Tian and Zhao (56] as Ee IO + M+ e+ Mh) 0021202 \ | L. es Where My, My Me, My are parameters that have been used to simplify Table 4 ‘Thermo physical properties of the multiple PCMs, nanoparticles and metal foam Nanopore Popey POLL PM POM Meal ae (mrss) mrs) SS) (ALOD (aicast felkemel 77077 ~«77~—~—« ve Giang 222 a 6 Fiwma) 02 0202.38 ‘6 widarm’l Goase 028 003 2 Liusrgh 0160s - Rik) kas 2 ne eS a Burk ows 0.0005MO* Gar REC hay + = 22? = HOTT = Ogee a (e- 2 (= Beh +08 he . ee © Bah = el Vkay + 207 — 22 = a Fae A= gee Mp 0399, Here, ois a parameter of the metal foam and e is constant 4. The rate of energy discharge ‘The rate of energy discharge which indicates the energy discharge ‘capacity ofthe TES system per unit solidification imei estimated [57] 6) Here, Q, isthe energy discharge capacity of the PCM system which Includes the sensible heat of the solid PCM, latent heat of fusion and sensible heat ofthe liquid PCM, m is mass ofthe PCM (lid + liquid), isan index that represents PCM number, ns the total number of PCMs, ‘inc And Togs are average temperatures of the POMS at the beginning ‘and ending of the solidification process, respectively. The initial tem: Perature is (353 K) as indicated in Section 3.1, The end temperature is (200K) assuming the status of thermal equilibrium formed between the HIF and PCMs upon completion of the energy discharge process. It should be noted here that the latent heat is a key parameter in de: termining the energy discharge capacity ofthe TES system. The sensible heat of the additives, ie. nanoparticles and metal foam vas ignored because itis very small compared to the latent heat of the PCM. 4, Numerical procedure and validation 'A major advantage of numerical simulation isthe ability to predict, the system efficiency atthe prelesign period so that factors affecting the overall system performance could be determined and optimize. ‘The aim of the current study i to simulate the PCM solidification in nine diferent cases that are presented in Table 1. The commercially available computational-uid-dynamies software, ANSYS FLUENT 19.2 was used for the numerical simulations. The fxed-grid numerical so- lution for the governing equations and the inital and boundary eon- ditions wore provided, The mixed zone where the two phases coexist vas treated as pseudo porous medium. This means that the liquid fraction deereases from 1 (liquid) to 0 (solid) whea the PCM has sol ifed, & se of user define functions (UDFs) was developed to include the boundary conditions, permeability (K, inertial coefficient (C), and effective thermal conductivity (k). C++ language was used to sepa rately program the UDEs to meet the modeling requirements in the FLUENT solver better. The UDFs was compiled in the solver to effec tively manage the iterative solution for the momentum and energy ‘equations. The finite volume method (EVM) with PRESSURE BASED technique recommended for incompressible flows (58) and SIMPLE Algorithm were employed to solve the transient two-phase flow ducing the PCM solidification. QUICK as a different scheme with PRESTO scheme for pressure correction was adapted during the iterative Are egy 257 (200) 113985 interface Adiabatic boundary Isothermat boundary symnitiyy ig 4 Computational domain and mesh for modules containing thee PEM, solution process. One half of the physical domain is considered in the computations due to symmetry in the angular direction as shown in Fig. 4. Gridin- dependent test with three different discretization meshes (N = 12,000, 18,000, and 24,000) was used to find the best grid in terms ofthe ae curacy and time of simulation. A grid size of N= 12,000 cells was chosen due to reducing the simulation time and achieving an acceptable accuracy. Using a higher grid size did not show significant differences Inthe solution as illustrated in Fig. 5(a). Asa part of the presimulation {vestigations various time steps (At = 0.05, 01 and 0.2) were tested for assessing the time derivatives as shown in ig. 5(). The time step of 0.15 was seen to be enough to stabilize the solution during the solid fication. The under-relaxation factors were 0.5, 0.3 and 1 for the ve locity components, pressure, and thermal energy respectively. Termi nation ofthe simulations based on the convergence criteria Was Set as 10-* for continuity and momentum, and 10~° fr thermal energy. 4.1, Model validation ‘Two previous published studies were used to validate the numerical ‘method used in this study. The intial and boundary conditions along With the theemo-physical properties used in the validation study were the same as those inthe reference studies. First, the results reparted by Khodadadi and Hosseinizadeh [47] on the solidification of water as a PCM enhanced by copper nanoparticles ina differentially-heated square cavity, were usd in the validation study. The predieted liquid: fraction for the present study at nanoparticle volume fractions. of {= 0.0 and 0.1 are compared with those from Khodadadi and Hos seinizadeh [47] and shown in Tig. 6, The very good accuracy achieved as indicated by Fig. 6 shows good validation of the model developed in this study for simulating the nano PCM phase-change. Accuracy of the numerical predictions was tested via the relative error == Mig ~ TyiTay Where Ref and Prs refer to the reference and the present predictions respectively. The maximum difference reported was 1%, Second, the experimental measurements by Atal etal. [54] on the transient temperature of a PCM/foam composite embeds in shell and-tube heat exchanger were also sed to validate the current model The experimental data by Atal t al. (54) that were recorded for the ‘temporal variations of the PCM temperature at a right-middle point (ocated between the outer shell and the inner tube) were compared to the simulation results obtained for the same location using the euerent