Analysis of Solidification and Remelting of Water Over a Cryocooled Sphere Through Natural Convection

Abstract

The solidification of water by using cryocooled metallic sphere is studied both experimentally and numerically. In this experiment, the cryocooled metallic solid sphere is dipped inside the tank full of water. The experiment is performed with a steel ball having different diameters. The numerical analysis is also done and the result is compared with experimental result; a good match is obtained. The results are presented in terms of thickness of ice formed, time required for solidification and time required for melting. The flow field and heat transfer characteristics showed an axisymmetric feature indicating the flow to be laminar. However, it has been observed that the convection effect plays a major role during the melting process which results in an uneven melting of ice over the sphere