A low Mach enthalpy method to model non-isothermal gas-liquid-solid flows with melting and solidification

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel low Mach enthalpy method for simulating non-isothermal gas-liquid-solid flows with phase change, accounting for density variations and free surface dynamics, validated against analytical solutions.

Contribution

The paper presents a new low Mach enthalpy approach that models phase change with variable properties and couples solid-liquid PCM with gas phases, including density and volume change effects.

Findings

Validated against analytical solutions for large density changes.

Allows coupling of PCM with gas phase for free surface simulation.

Provides benchmarks for CFD algorithms handling volume change effects.

Abstract

Modeling phase change problems numerically is vital for understanding many natural (e.g., ice formation, steam generation) and engineering processes (e.g., casting, welding, additive manufacturing). Almost all phase change materials (PCMs) exhibit density/volume changes during melting, solidification, boiling, or condensation, causing additional fluid flow during this transition. Most numerical works consider only two phase flows (either solid-liquid or liquid-gas) for modeling phase change phenomena and some also neglect volume/density change of PCMs in the models. This paper presents a novel low Mach enthalpy method for simulating solidification and melting problems with variable thermophysical properties, including density. Additionally, this formulation allows coupling a solid-liquid PCM with a gas phase in order to simulate the free surface dynamics of PCMs undergoing melting and solidification. We revisit the two-phase Stefan problem involving a density jump between two material phases. We propose a possible means to include the kinetic energy jump in the Stefan condition while still allowing for an analytical solution. The new low Mach enthalpy method is validated against analytical solutions for a PCM undergoing a large density change during its phase transition. Additionally, a few simple sanity checks are proposed to benchmark computational fluid dynamics (CFD) algorithms that aim to capture the volume change effects of PCMs.