Abstract
The melting characteristics of liquid ice in a rectangular cavity were studied experimentally. The liquid ice, a mixture of ice particles and ethylene-glycol aqueous solution, was heated by the bottom wall of the cavity. The melting behavior and melting rate of the liquid ice as well as mean heat-transfer coefficient at the heated bottom wall were observed and measured under a variety of conditions of heat flux and initial concentration of the agueous binary solution. It was found that the formation and growth of double-diffusive layers owing to the thermal and solutal buoyancy forces have a great influence on the melting process of the liquid ice.
