Melting and solidification in porous media
From Thermal-FluidsPedia
Melting and solidification in porous media can find application in a wide range of problems, including freezing and thawing of soil in a cold region, latent heat thermal energy storage, and selective laser sintering of metal powders. Applications in life science include cryopreservation of tissue, human embryos, and organs. While the early studies about phase change in porous media treated melting and solidification as conduction-controlled, the effect of natural convection is often very important. Convection-controlled melting and solidification of PCMs saturated in porous media are discussed in the following topics.
References
Faghri, A., Zhang, Y., and Howell, J. R., 2010, Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer, Global Digital Press, Columbia, MO.