Urea Melting with AcuSolve

Alexander Hay

This paper presents the simulation methodology available in AcuSolve for modeling solid-liquid phase change in addition to transport mechanisms (natural/forced convection, conduction, radiation). We illustrate this new capability through the simulation of the melting with natural convection occurring during the warm-up of urea tanks used in heavy diesel engines.
The formulation relies on single-phase materials with temperature dependent properties and the solid phase property is emulated as a fluid with a fictitious porous medium providing an exceedingly large resistance to flow. The paper also reports the performances of the dual time-stepping approach implemented in AcuSolve to speed up flow-thermal analyses while preserving accuracy.