Smart macroencapsulated resin/wax composite for energy conservation in the built environment: Thermophysical and numerical investigations
Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials
Published online on November 04, 2015
Abstract
This study reports the results of experimental and numerical investigations on the thermophysical properties and the process of melting of a phase-change composite material. The proposed phase-change composite material based on epoxy resin with spherical shape paraffin wax (RT27) was used as a new thermal storage system. Thermal characterization was performed using a transient guarded hot plate technique. The results revealed the importance of thermal storage by latent heat. The numerical analysis is realized using numerical COMSOL® Multiphysics 4.3b. The effect of various parameters of the numerical solution on the results is examined: in particular, the term describing the mushy zone in the momentum equation and the influence of temperature melting range. The findings of the experimental investigation compare favorably with the numerical results.