A Cold Model Study on the Effect of Gas Injection upon the Melting Rate of a Solid Sphere in a Liquid Bath

Abstract

A study was carried out on the effect of gas injection upon the melting rate of an ice sphere in a water bath.
Heat transfer coefficient was obtained from the experiment in which the melting rate of an ice sphere was measured. The ice sphere was placed in the upward flow generated by the gas injection through an orifice at the bath bottom.
The heat transfer coefficient increased with an increase in the gas flow rate, while it was not influenced much by the orifice diameter and vessel shape.
An attempt was also made to estimate the heat transfer coefficient and it was found that Whitaker's heat transfer equation was applicable when the average velocity of the upward flow was known. A tracer method and a method based on the energy balance consideration were employed for obtaining the velocity. The latter method involved mainly calculation.