Towards the simulation of supercooling and convection in phase change materials using a thermal lattice Boltzmann method

ACLThe use of phase-change materials (PCM) in building materials is becoming increasingly used in the building sector. However, the presence of certain phenomena such as convection and supercooling may affect the fusion times and, consequently, the design of PCMs. Supercooling can have a noteworthy impact on the system performance. Moreover, convection alters the shape of the phase-front and should also be taken into account. Thereby, we propose here a thermal lattice Boltzmann model (TLBM) to simulate the phase-change problem with convection and supercooling. The numerical findings show that convection and supercooling phenomena are successfully taken into consideration. In addition, where appropriate, supercooling results exhibit a delay for the propagation of the solid-liquid interface. This proves that consideration of such a phenomenon in numerical modelling remains paramount for better design of PCM design