COMPUTER METHODS IN APPLIED MECHANICS AND ENGINEERING 28 (1981) 275-284

NORTH-HOLLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY

A NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF FREEZING AND MELTING WITH

CONVECTION

K. MORGAN
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Wales, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom

Received 17 November 1980

Revised manuscript received 26 March 1981

An explicit finite element algorithm is presented for the solution of the basic equations describing
combined conductive and convective transfer of heat in materials which may undergo a liquid/solid
change of phase. The method is used to analyse the influence of natural convection on the process of
freezing and melting in a cylindrical thermal cavity. The results produced in the case of freezing are
shown to agree qualitatively with experimental observations.

1. Introduction

The numerical modelling of heat transfer problems involving a solid/liquid change of phase
has been an area which has attracted much attention [l]. Problems of this type are currently
being studied to investigate the possibilities of thermal energy storage via the phase change
process and there are also many practical phase change problems which are of importance in
the more traditional steel and nuclear industries. In the great majority of cases, the numerical
models which have been developed are based on heat conduction theory and the effects of
convection are neglected, whereas it is known that convection plays a dominant role in many
situations of practical interest. This has been confirmed by a recent series of experiments [2,3]
which shows the importance of natural convection in the processes of melting and freezing.
Studies which have attempted to take account of convection have generally either included
simplifying assumptions about the geometry of the region under consideration [4,5] or used
empirical heat transfer coefficients [6]. A significant advance was provided by the work of
Gartling [7] who removed the need for restrictions of this type. By using the finite element
method he produced a technique which could be applied to two-dimensional regions of
arbitrary shape, and the full Boussinesq equations for coupled laminar flow with heat transfer
were solved in the fluid. A quadratic finite element representation for temperature was found
to be necessary for accurate modelling of the phase change process by the enthalpy method [8]
with the implicit method of time-stepping which was adopted. The method presented here
retains the full generality of the work of Gartling [7] by solving the same equations via an
explicit finite element technique. Accurate modelling of phase change problems can then be
obtained by using linear elements to represent the temperature field [9]. An important
additional feature of the method is that it could be used, in an extended form, to analyse
similar phase change problems in three-dimensional regions of arbitrary shape where the use
of implicit methods to solve the fully coupled system of equations could prove to be
impractical [lo].

00457825/81/0000-0000/$02.75 @ 1981 North-Holland

276 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection

2. The governing equations

An algorithm is to be developed which is capable of analysing problems in which there

exists initially a liquid (solid) region which may change phase to solid (liquid), as time
proceeds, due to heat transfer processes. Heat transfer in a fluid is governed by the basic
equations expressing conservation of mass, momentum and energy. If the Boussinesq ap-
proximation [ll] is made and the summation convention adopted, then in two dimensions the
mass conservation equation can be written in the form

au,/ax, = 0 (i = 1,2) (1)

where u1 and u2 are the velocity components in the direction of the Cartesian coordinate axes
x1 and x2 respectively and where the x2 axis is assumed to be vertically upwards.
If p is the fluid density, g is the acceleration due to gravity and p is the coefficient of
volume expansion of the fluid, then the momentum conservation equations may be expressed
as

= *-axj pgP(T - T,,,)2 (2)

I

where

CTij = -p&j + /L
(Z+$!) (3)

and

p=p’+pgxz (4)

Here p’ is the pressure, p is the viscosity, T is the temperature and Tret is a reference
temperature for which buoyancy forces are zero.
Conservation of energy in the fluid then requires satisfaction of the equation

(5)

where c is the specific heat and k is the thermal conductivity.

When a phase change from liquid to solid occurs, any accompanying change of density will
be neglected and the heat transfer in the solid is then governed by (5) with the velocity
components Uj set to zero.

3. Modelling the phase change process

In constructing a solution to a problem involving a liquid/solid change of phase, a possible

approach would be to accurately track the position of the phase boundary [l, 12,131 and then
to solve equations (l-5) in the fluid region and the appropriate form of (5) in the solid region.
 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection 277

These solutions would have to satisfy the boundary conditions on temperature, velocity and
heat removal at the phase change surface [14]. However, the complexity of front tracking
methods in two dimensions led to the adoption in the present work of the alternative approach
in which the phase change process is modelled by a variant of the enthalpy method [S]. In this
method the phase change is assumed to occur over a temperature range and the associated
latent heat effect is handled by increasing suitably the specific heat in this range. Thus if the
phase change is assumed to occur over the temperature interval [T,, T,], where T, is the solidus
temperature and T, the liquidus temperature, then the specific heat cA used in the calculation
is defined by

CA = c + [H(T - Ts)- H(T - T,)]L/AT (6)

where H denotes the Heaviside function, L is the latent heat and AT = T, - T, is the phase change
interval.
When this method is applied to the analysis of pure materials, in which the phase change
occurs at a specified temperature (i.e. T, = T,), a phase change interval AT (# 0) must be
assumed. Then it has been demonstrated [7,15,16] that good results can be obtained for
problems involving conduction provided that the right choice is made for the value of AT.
However, for materials in which the phase change does indeed occur over a reasonable
temperature range this problem does not arise and the actual physical values of T, and T, can
then be used successfully [17].
The enthalpy method is used here in conjunction with a fixed finite element mesh. Gartling
[7] noted that such an approach was well suited to the computation of the fluid motion except
for the problem of the application of the no-slip bounda~ condition at the phase boundary.
Exact application of this boundary condition of zero-fluid velocity at the phase change surface
will not be possible as the fluid/solid interface will, in general, not coincide with the nodes of
the finite element mesh. Gartling [7] overcame this problem by using a smearing approach in
which the viscosity was greatly increased in the phase change region, but this method was
found to be unsuccessful within the context of the explicit solution algorithm to be adopted
here. Instead, the problem was overcome by adopting the simpler, but perhaps less accurate,
approach of reducing the nodal velocity to zero whenever the nodal temperature lies below
the liquidus.

4. Finite element solution procedure

The approach outlined in the previous section for dealing with a liquid/solid change of
phase was implemented in the computer code CONDIF, developed at J.R.C. Ispra by J. Donea
et al. [18] for the analysis of transient convective-conductive heat transfer problems. Space
discretisation is performed via the finite element method while time-stepping is achieved by
the use of the fractional step method 1181. This method was originally used by Chorin [19] in
the finite difference solution of incompressible flow problems. The solution procedure adopted
in the CONDIF code has been widely reported in the literature [18,20,21], and a brief
description of the salient points will therefore suffice here.
The spatial discretisation is accomplished via the use of 4-noded isoparametric e’tements
278 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection

with associated bilinear velocity and temperature fields and elementwise constant pressure.
Application of the standard method of weighted residuals [22] to equations (l)-(5) then yields
a matrix equation system of the form

cu=o, (7)
du
Mz=fa+fd+fb+ cp,

dT
Madt=ga+g,+g,. (9)

Here C is the pressure matrix, M is the mass matrix, MA the capacitance matrix and the
subscripts a, d and b denote the vectors arising from the advection terms, the diffusion terms
and the boundary conditions and body force terms respectively.
With the solution known everywhere at time tn, the fractional step method is then used to
determine the solution of (7) and (8) at the next time level t,+* (= t, + At). In this method an
intermediate velocity field u* is calculated so as to satisfy only a discretised version of (8)
without the pressure term, i.e.,

U *= u”+AtM-‘(f:+f:+f:). (10)

The required velocity and pressure fields, untl and p”+l, are then obtained by adding to u* the
dynamical effect of pressure, determined so as to ensure that the incompressibility condition
remains satisfied, i.e.,

AtC’M-‘Cp”+’ = - C’U* , (11)

U “+l = u* + AtM-‘Cp”” . (12)

Problems associated with the application of velocity boundary conditions ensure that the
matrix C’M-‘C in (11) splits into two independent submatrices, each of which is singular. It has
been argued [23] that this may be due to the fact that incorrect pressure equations are
produced in the boundary elements if the conditions on prescribed tangential velocity are
strictly applied. As a consequence, the boundary conditions on the tangential component of
velocity are satisfied by u”+’ in a weak sense only, thus ensuring that the pressure equations
have the correct form in the boundary elements and enabling (11) to be solved, upon
specification of a single reference value for pressure. With the velocity and pressure at time
so determined, the solution is completed by evaluating the temperature at this time from
g)‘in the form

T “+I= T” + AtMi’(g: + g: + g:) . (13)

In explicit schemes of this type, stability considerations restrict the size of the time step At
which may be used, and it is therefore computationally advantageous to replace the consistent
 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection 279

mass and capacitance matrices in equations (lOb(13) by the lumped ~diagona1) matrices
obtained by adding all terms of each row of the consistent matrices and placing the result on
the diagonal. A detailed analysis of the effects of this approximation and the determination of
the resulting stability requirements has been made by Donea et al. [18]. Their results are
used here and then, at any stage in the process. The time step At must satisfy the relation

PcIfr12
PIhI IhI (14)
4k ’ 4~ ’ uihi

where L = (hl, hz) is the element side vector.

If a temperature dependent specific heat c is used in (6), the lumped capacitance matrix has
to be recalculated at each time step. This can be avoided if the specific heat in the solid and
liquid regions can be assumed separately constant (though not necessarily equal). Then
recomputation is required only for the elements currently undergoing a change of phase, and
the computational efficiency of the scheme is improved. The efficiency of the scheme is not
affected by the inclusion of a temperature dependent thermal conductivity, k, in (5) since the
diffusion matrix gd in equation (9) is already recalculated at each time step.

5. Freezing in a thermal cavity

This finite element scheme has been shown [9] to be capable of providing accurate solutions
to phase change problems involving only conduction, but it is difficult to assess the accuracy of
its predictions for problems involving convection due to the scarcity of suitable experimental
data. However, in a recent paper Sparrow et al. [3] describe results obtained in a series of
experiments designed to investigate the effect of natural convection on the process of freezing.
In these experiments a liquid is placed at temperature To in a cylindrical container whose ends
are thermally insulated and whose outer surface is held fixed at the temperature To. Freezing
commences when a cooled inner cylinder at temperature Ti is inserted into the liquid. A
detailed analysis of these experiments was not possible as the author did not have access to the
full material property data. It was therefore decided to perform calculations in a similar
geometry and subject to similar boundary conditions with a view to comparing the general
experimental and numerical conclusions.
The dimensions of the region analysed and the type of boundary conditions applied are
shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1. The region was covered by a mesh of 100 square elements
and boundary conditions of zero velocity were applied on the walls of the region at all times.
Although somewhat unrealistic physically, the material properties were taken to be constant
and equal in both phases and the values adopted for the problem parameters were defined by

p= 1.0, k = 0.001 ,
c= 1.0, p = 0.003 ) (13
Tre3,= cl , L = 5.0 .

The phase change in the material was assumed to occur over a temperature range defined by
280 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection

\’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
01 11
‘\ar
azzo
Fig. 1. Region analysed and temperature boundary conditions applied. Initially T = TO everywhere.

T, = -0.6, T, = -0.65 (15b)

and, in the problems to be considered here, such a range should certainly ensure that the
enthalpy method takes correct account of the latent heat effect [17].
In the initial calculations, the value of g was adjusted so as to give a Rayleigh number of
3000 when To- Ti = 1, as previous experience with the model [21] had shown that the coarse
mesh adopted would then give a good representation of the flow. The computer runs
performed are detailed in Table 1. In Run A the liquid is initially at a temperature only just
above the liquidus value, and the effects of convection in this case are negligible. The frozen
region is then in the form of a perfect cylinder at each instant and this is illustrated in Fig. 2
which shows the progress of the liquidus to time 3000 when the computation ceased. In the
remaining Runs B-D the liquid is superheated and the table shows how natural convection
slows and ultimately stops the freezing process. Plots of the isotherms and streamlines at
steady state conditions are shown in Fig. 3. Close examination of the numerical results
produces the same conclusions as those reached by analysing experimental observations [3]
viz. increasing To at a fixed value of Ti:,,or decreasing -Ti at a fixed value of To, decreases the

Table 1
Details of freezing calculations

Run TO Ti Time for steady state

A -0.59 -1 3000’
B 0 -1 648
c 0 -2 1578
D 2 -2 299

‘Denotes end of computation time; steady state

conditions not attained.
 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection 281

Run B

Run C

(al Run II lb)

Fig. 2. Position of the liquidus at various times in Run Fig. 3. Temperature (a) and stream function,(b) at
A. steady state conditions for Runs B, C and D. The
solidified region is shaded.

time at which steady state is attained and decreases the volume of liquid which is eventually
frozen.
The effect of the magnitude of the latent heat was investigated by repeating Run B firstly
with L = 0 and then with L = 10. It was found in all three cases that the distribution of
temperature and stream function at steady state was virtually identical but that the time at

RunE

(a) Run F
Fig. 4. Temperature (a) and stream function (b) at steady state conditions for Runs E and F. The solidified region is
shaded.
282 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection

which steady state conditions were reached increased with latent heat from 414 with L = 0 to
918 with L = 10. In Runs E and F, Run B was repeated with the value of g increased by a
factor of ten (Rayleigh number = 30 000) and by a factor of fifty (Rayleigh number = 150 000)
respectively. The effect of convection is then significantly increased and a finer mesh was
necessary in Run F at the highest Rayleigh number.
Again the effect of the increased convection is to reduce the final amount of frozen material
and also to reduce the time at which steady state conditions result. The steady state was
attained at time 249 in Run E and at time 184 in Run F. The distribution of temperature and
stream function at steady state for these two cases is shown in Fig. 4.

6. Melting in a thermal cavity

To further demonstrate the capabilities of the model, the inverse problem of melting in a
cylindrical thermal cavity was also considered. The geometry of the previous section is used
but now the initial temperature of the region is taken to be below the solidus, and melting is
initiated by increasing the temperature of the inner wall. The values given in (15) were again

Table 2
Details of melting calculations

Run TO Ti Time for steady state

G -0.66 2 1900
RunG
H -1 2 2609

Run H

Run I

(al RunJ
Fig. 5. Temperature (a) and stream function (b) at
steady state conditions for Runs G, H, I and J. The
solidified region is shaded.
 K. Morgan, Numerical analysis of freezing and melting with convection 283

used for the thermal properties but T,, was put equal to the liquidus T,. Two basic Runs (G
and H) were made as detailed in Table 2 and the effect of increasing the amount of convection
was demonstrated by repeating Run H with the value of g increased by a factor of ten (Run I)
and by a factor of fifty (Run J). As the effect of convection is increased in this manner, the
steady state is reached in a shorter time (in Run I at time 945 and at time 436 in Run J) and
the amount of material remaining frozen increases. For this complete set of calculations, the
temperature and stream function distributions at steady-state are shown in Fig. 5.

7. Conchdons

An explicit finite element method for analysing problems involving melting and freezing in
the presence of convection has been described. The method has been shown to be capable of
producing results which agree qualitatively with experimental observations, but a detailed
analysis of the accuracy of the method is still not possible because of the scarcity of suitable
experimental results. The explicit nature of the method means that it should be possible in the
future to extend the method to the analysis of three-dimensional phase change problems
involving convection.

The work reported in this paper was performed while the author was a Visiting Scientist in
the Applied Mechanics Division of the Joint Research Centre of the European Communities,
Ispra, Italy. The author wishes to thank the director of the J.R.C. for providing the financial
support which made the visit possible and the staff of the Applied Mechanics Division,
particularly Dr. J. Donea, for their help and encouragement.

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