Numerical investigation of the effects of geometric variations of cooling tubes for ice formation in ice storage tank

Abstract

In the present study, it is aimed to compare the effects of different geometries located in a rectangular ice storage tank on ice formation. For this aim FLUENT package program was used to solve the flow numerically depending on time. Rectangular tank was modeled in two dimensional and calculations were carried out on half of tank due to symmetry. Water temperature was assumed in the tank as 0 °C, 4 °C and 12 °C, cylinder surface temperatures were taken as -10 °C. Ratio of Ai/Ac (Formed ice area/Cross sectional area), temperature distribution, velocity vectors and liquid fraction were computed for different cooler geometries as circular, hexagonal, square, triangle 1 and triangle 2. The highest ice formation rate was seen in circular model, which was followed by hexagonal, triangle 1, square and triangle 2 models. While the highest solidification rate was seen in circular cross-section cylinders, solidification rates in hexagonal cylinders were rather close to the circular cross-section cylinders. However, the difference between square and triangle 2 models increased even more compared to cases when Ti= 0 °C and Ti= 4 °C. © 2017 TIBTD Printed in Turkey.