A pseudo-single-phase continuum model for melting ice slurries in pipe flows.

Thermal behaviors of ethylene glycol-water ice slurry flowing through a horizontal heated tube is investigated numerically. The ice slurry is assumed to behave as a single-phase Newtonian fluid with effective properties depending on temperature and ice fraction. The 3D steady-state model includes the mass, momentum and energy conservation equations as well as a transport equation for the ice particles (balance between convective and diffusive fluxes). The diffusive fluxes include those induced by the shear rate gradients, the spatial variation of viscosity and the particle settling. The heat and mass exchanges between the two phases are numerically modeled through source terms. The model was first validated with the experimental results of the open literature then applied to both laminar and turbulent flow regimes. The numerical solutions are found to be in good agreement with published results and have displayed some important heat transfer characteristics of the melting ice slurry.