NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF MASS TRANSFER ON THE MELTING PHENOMENON FROM A VERTICAL PLATE IN A LIQUID-SATURATED POROUS MEDIUM

Abstract

An analysis is performed to investigate the mass transfer on the melting phenomenon from a vertical plate in a liquid-saturated porous medium. The governing partial differential equations are reduced to nonlinear ordinary differential equations by using appropriate dimensionless variables. The final resulting boundary value problem is then solved by means of the Runge-Kutta-Gill method associated with Newton's iteration. As shown in the results, the melting process is highly affected by mass transfer effect. With increasing the strength of the buoyancy ratio, the melting effect may be inhibited because the heat flux is removed by stronger convection. The Lewis number has a more notable effect on the local mass transfer rate than it does on the local heat transfer rate at the solid-liquid interface. Additionally, the Lewis number may affect the melting phenomenon when the mass transfer is considered in the system. The little change for the melting effect can make a great influence on the local mass transfer rate, which is significant when the system is dominated by mass transfer for a larger Le.