Natural convection of nanoencapsulated phase change suspensions inside a local thermal non-equilibrium porous annulus.

In this study, the heat transfer, fluid flow and heat capacity ratio are analyzed in an annulus enclosure filled with porous and saturated by a suspension of nanoencapsulated phase change materials (NEPCMs). It consists of phase change material core and a polymer or non-polymer shell. The presence of nanoparticles in the base fluid and the phase change capability of the nanoparticle's core improve the thermal properties of the base fluid and thermal control process. The inner cylinder wall is reserved at hot temperatures where the encapsulated particles absorb the heat, while the outer cylinder wall is reserved at cold temperatures where the encapsulated particles release the heat. A local thermal non-equilibrium model is adopted for the porous medium. The parameters studied are Rayleigh number (104 ≤ Ra ≤ 106), Stefan number (0.2 ≤ Ste ≤ ∞), melting point temperature of the core (0.05 ≤ θf ≤ 1), the concentration of the NEPCM particles (0% ≤ ϕ ≤ 5%), radius ratio (1.67 ≤ Rr ≤ 2.5), eccentricity (− 0.67 ≤ Ec ≤ 0.67), Darcy number (10−4 ≤ Da ≤ 10−1), porosity (0.3 ≤ ε ≤ 0.9) and interface heat transfer coefficient (1 ≤ H ≤ 1000). The results show that the dimensionless temperature of fusion (θf) plays the main role in the improvement in NEPCM on the heat transfer process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]