Melting characteristics of phase change paraffin in honeycomb cells based on a fluid-solid-heat three-field coupling model

CHEN Junqi; WANG Mingxing; LI Jie; WANG Hui

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2025.0887

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Melting characteristics of phase change paraffin in honeycomb cells based on a fluid-solid-heat three-field coupling model

Energy Storage Materials and Devices | 更新时间：2026-05-28

- Melting characteristics of phase change paraffin in honeycomb cells based on a fluid-solid-heat three-field coupling model
- Energy Storage Science and Technology Vol. 15, Issue 2, Pages: 363-373(2026)
- 作者机构：
  
  1.河南工业大学土木工程学院，河南郑州 450001
  2.海南大学土木建筑工程学院，海南海口 570228
- 作者简介：
- 基金信息：
- DOI：10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2025.0887
  CLC： TK 124
- Received：30 September 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-11-18，
  
  Published：28 February 2026
- 稿件说明：
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陈俊旗, 王明星, 李洁, 等. 基于流-固-热三场耦合模型的不同蜂窝单元相变石蜡熔化特性[J]. 储能科学与技术, 2026, 15(2): 363-373.

CHEN Junqi, WANG Mingxing, LI Jie, et al. Melting characteristics of phase change paraffin in honeycomb cells based on a fluid-solid-heat three-field coupling model[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2026, 15(2): 363-373.
陈俊旗, 王明星, 李洁, 等. 基于流-固-热三场耦合模型的不同蜂窝单元相变石蜡熔化特性[J]. 储能科学与技术, 2026, 15(2): 363-373. DOI： 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2025.0887.

CHEN Junqi, WANG Mingxing, LI Jie, et al. Melting characteristics of phase change paraffin in honeycomb cells based on a fluid-solid-heat three-field coupling model[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2026, 15(2): 363-373. DOI： 10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2025.0887.

摘要

金属蜂窝结构具有轻质化、大表面积和优良的导热特性，与相变材料结合，能够有效克服纯相变材料热导率低的天然缺陷。为了研究不同形状蜂窝单元中相变材料的无约束熔化特性，本工作采用等效热容法控制固-液相变过程的潜热储存，引入Boussinesq假设描述浮升力驱动的液相自然对流运动，构建了经实验验证的流-固-热三场耦合数值模型，系统分析了三角形、菱形、矩形、六边形和圆形等5种蜂窝单元内相变石蜡的熔化过程。结果表明：自然对流显著加速了石蜡内的热量传输，并提升了熔化速率，整个熔化过程中，三角形单元内自然对流作用效果明显，相比无自然对流熔化时间可节省92%；单元布置方式和单元几何形态对熔化效率同样影响显著，其中倒置三角形单元与正置布置方式相比，平均熔化速率再次提升了38.58%；此外，三角形作为熔化速率最高的单元构型，在不同的高宽比下与经典的六边形蜂窝单元相比，分别提升了12.03%、16.56%、21.25%和16.11%；以增强比率为判定依据，当三角形单元的高宽比为1.0时，其熔化速率最高，完全熔化时间节省21.25%。

Abstract

Metal honeycomb structures are characterized by light weight

large surface area

and excellent thermal conductivity. When combined with phase change materials (PCMs)

the inherent drawback of low thermal conductivity in pure PCMs can be effectively mitigated. This study focuses on the unconstrained melting behavior of PCMs in honeycomb cells with different shapes. The effective heat capacity method is adopted to account for latent heat storage during the solid-liquid phase change process. The Boussinesq approximation is introduced to describe natural convection in the liquid phase driven by buoyancy. A fluid-solid-thermal multiphysics coupled numerical model is established and validated experimentally. Based on the validated model

the melting processes of phase change paraffin in five types of honeycomb cells (triangular

rhombic

rectangular

hexagonal

and circular) are systematically analyzed. The results show that natural convection significantly accelerates heat transfer in paraffin and enhances the melting rate. Throughout the entire melting process

the effect of natural convection in the triangular cell is significant

reducing the total melting time by 92% compared with the case without natural convection. The cell arrangement mode and geometric shape of the cell have significant effects on melting efficiency. Specifically

the average melting rate of the inverted triangular unit is increased by 38.58% compared with that of the upright unit. In addition

as the unit configuration with the highest melting rate

the triangular unit shows improvements of 12.03%

16.56%

21.25%

and 16.11%

respectively

compared with the classical hexagonal honeycomb unit under different height-to-width ratios. Using the enhancement ratio as the criterion

the triangular unit achieves the highest melting rate at a height-to-width ratio of 1.0

with the complete melting time reduced by 21.25%.

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references

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