Estimating thermal properties of phase change material from heat flux measurements

• Published in: International journal of thermal sciences Vol. 172; p. 107307
• Main Authors: Courtois, Elodie, Glouannec, Patrick, Magueresse, Anthony, Loulou, Tahar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Masson SAS 01.02.2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Effective specific heat; Engineering Sciences; Experimental analysis; Inverse analysis; Latent heat; Numerical simulation; PCM material; Thermal conductivity; Inverse analysis; Latent heat; Effective specific heat; Experimental analysis; Numerical simulation; Thermal conductivity; PCM material
• ISSN: 1290-0729; 1778-4166
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2021.107307

An inverse analysis is applied to estimate the effective heat capacity and thermal conductivity of phase change material (PCM) as function of temperature. A sequential work in two distinct parts was adopted here which consists in the estimation of the thermal properties of the PCM in the solid and liquid states in a first step and completed by the characterization of the phase change in a second step. The effective heat capacity is judiciously parameterized as temperature dependent function to take into account the phase change phenomenon and its two solid and liquid phases. An experimental setup was built to collect the heat fluxes and temperatures histories around and inside a one dimensional sample of PCM. First the experimental data were used to estimate thermal conductivity and specific heat both at solid and liquid state and later combined with the developed inverse analysis to estimate the specific heat function over the phase change transition. Obtained results are compared to those obtained with the DSC facilities and an acceptable agreement between the two approaches is observed. The experiment was found to be well designed and the collected measurements trustworthy and complementary to handle this important estimation problem. •Implementation of an enthalpy-based effective heat capacity.•Estimation of thermophysical properties through the solution of an inverse parameter problem.•Obtained results are validated and compared to previously published experimental data.•Building an experiment to characterize thermal behavior of PCM-mortar in close real use-conditions.•Development of an experimental methodology to estimate thermal properties of PCM material.