Melting of a Solid Sphere Placed in an Infinite Medium—Effect of Forced Convection

Abstract

Heat transfer from a melting sphere due to forced convection is studied. The two-dimensional axisymmetric Navier Stokes and energy equations are solved using the finite-volume method to predict the time required for a sphere to melt in a melt pool of the same material. The heat transfer characteristics are represented by the correlation of the Nusselt number with the Prandtl number, the Reynolds number, and the Stefan number. The rate of melting of the sphere with time under different conditions is also presented.

Notes

¹Low molecular weight (less than 5,000 liquid and their solution, liquid metals behave as Newtonian fluids [11, 12].