Spaces Filled With Fluid and Fibers Coated With a Phase-Change Material

Thermally active fabrics and insulations consist of fibers coated with phase-change materials and surrounded by air. This paper constructs a homogeneous porous medium model for melting and solidification in spaces filled with thermally active fibers. Three basic configurations are analyzed numerically: one-dimensional conduction, one-dimensional convection, and two-dimensional natural convection due to heating or cooling from the side. Concrete means for calculating the time of complete melting or solidification are reported as functions of the important dimensionless groups that govern each configuration. It is shown that the change of phase in a space filled with coated fibers and air differs fundamentally from the corresponding phenomena in a porous medium saturated with a phase-change material.