Experimental investigation of freezing inside a thick-walled cylinder

Abstract

A series of experiments were performed to investigate the effects of a thick wall on the freezing process occurring inside a cylindrical container. Two cylinders with different thermal diffusivity ( k / ϱc ) values were compared. To isolate the effects of the wall sensible energy, experiments were run for both a subcooled wall and the wall initially at the phase change material (PCM) fusion temperature. The PCM was initially at its fusion temperature for all cases. The base of the cylinder was maintained at a constant temperature in all but one case, where the lower boundary was approximately adiabatic. At several time steps, the mass fraction solidified and the phase front profile were determined. Measurements of the base heat flux and mean cylinder temperature were also obtained as functions of time. The fraction frozen vs time curves and the shape of the phase front profiles are compared for each set of conditions. The energy content of the wall can significantly affect both results. The data are presented in such a way as to encourage comparison with numerical computations of a similar complex-boundary freezing problem.