Simulation of natural convection melting in a cavity with fin using lattice Boltzmann method

In this study, a numerical investigation of melting phenomenon with natural convection in a cavity with fin has been performed using enthalpy‐based lattice Boltzmann method. The lattice D2Q9 model was applied to determine the density and velocity fields, and the D2Q5 model for the temperature field. The effect of vertical position and length of the fin on the melting rate was studied. The simulations were carried out for Stefan number of 10, Rayleigh number of 10 ⁵ and relative thermal conductivity (k_fin∕k_fluid) ranging from 5 to 30. The obtained results show that the rate of melting increases when the relative thermal conductivity and the length of the fin become greater. We also found that the variation of vertical position of the fin from bottom to middle has an insignificant effect on melting while it causes the increase of full melting time when the fin is mounted on the top of the cavity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.