Latent heat thermal energy storage partially filled by PCM and metal foam: a comparison among different configurations.

The thesis investigates thermal transport augmentation in a latent heat thermal energy storage system by comparing a baseline full PCM configuration, a baseline PCM plus metal foam configuration, and multiple partitioned PCM plus metal foam cases arranged in three, five, and seven segments with 25%, 50%, and 75% foam fractions. The study is carried out using ANSYS Workbench and Fluent to model transient charging behavior in a shell-and-tube storage domain filled with RT50 paraffin, with geometry creation performed in SpaceClaim and a quad dominant mesh used for discretization. The work focuses on how internal partitioning and foam distribution influence temperature evolution, liquid fraction, and enthalpy variation during phase change. The results are intended to identify how geometric arrangement affects heat transfer enhancement, melting progression, and thermal storage performance, and to provide guidance for selecting a more effective configuration for practical latent heat thermal energy storage applications.