Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth

We present studies of the solidification of binary aqueous solutions that undergo time-periodic cooling from below. We develop an experiment for solidification of aqueous NH4Cl solutions, where the temperature of the cooling boundary is modulated as a simple periodic function of time with independen...

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Main Authors: Ding, G, Wells, A, Zhong, J
Format: Journal article
Published: Cambridge University Press 2019
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author Ding, G
Wells, A
Zhong, J
author_facet Ding, G
Wells, A
Zhong, J
author_sort Ding, G
collection OXFORD
description We present studies of the solidification of binary aqueous solutions that undergo time-periodic cooling from below. We develop an experiment for solidification of aqueous NH4Cl solutions, where the temperature of the cooling boundary is modulated as a simple periodic function of time with independent variations of the modulation amplitude and frequency. The thickness of the mushy layer exhibits oscillations about the background growth obtained for constant cooling. We consider the deviation given by the difference between states with modulated and fixed cooling, which increases when the modulation amplitude increases but decreases with increasing modulation frequency. At early times, the deviation amplitude is consistent with a scaling argument for growth with quasi-steady modulation. In situ measurements of the mush temperature reveal thermal waves propagating through the mushy layer, with amplitude decaying with height within the mushy layer, whilst the phase lag behind the cooling boundary increases with height. This also leads to phase lags in the variation of the mushy-layer thickness compared to the boundary cooling. There is an asymmetry of the deviation of mushy-layer thickness: during a positive modulation (where the boundary temperature increases at the start of a cycle) the peak thickness deviation has a greater magnitude than the troughs in a negative modulation mode (where the boundary temperature decreases at the start of the cycle). A numerical model is formulated to describe mushy-layer growth with constant bulk concentration and turbulent heat transport at the mush–liquid interface driven by compositional convection associated with a finite interfacial solid fraction. The model recovers key features of the experimental results at early times, including the propagation of thermal waves and oscillations in mushy-layer thickness, although tends to overpredict the mean thickness.
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spelling oxford-uuid:703a2cb5-8348-4f2e-9b73-420a78c34e5c2022-03-26T19:35:47ZSolidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growthJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:703a2cb5-8348-4f2e-9b73-420a78c34e5cSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2019Ding, GWells, AZhong, JWe present studies of the solidification of binary aqueous solutions that undergo time-periodic cooling from below. We develop an experiment for solidification of aqueous NH4Cl solutions, where the temperature of the cooling boundary is modulated as a simple periodic function of time with independent variations of the modulation amplitude and frequency. The thickness of the mushy layer exhibits oscillations about the background growth obtained for constant cooling. We consider the deviation given by the difference between states with modulated and fixed cooling, which increases when the modulation amplitude increases but decreases with increasing modulation frequency. At early times, the deviation amplitude is consistent with a scaling argument for growth with quasi-steady modulation. In situ measurements of the mush temperature reveal thermal waves propagating through the mushy layer, with amplitude decaying with height within the mushy layer, whilst the phase lag behind the cooling boundary increases with height. This also leads to phase lags in the variation of the mushy-layer thickness compared to the boundary cooling. There is an asymmetry of the deviation of mushy-layer thickness: during a positive modulation (where the boundary temperature increases at the start of a cycle) the peak thickness deviation has a greater magnitude than the troughs in a negative modulation mode (where the boundary temperature decreases at the start of the cycle). A numerical model is formulated to describe mushy-layer growth with constant bulk concentration and turbulent heat transport at the mush–liquid interface driven by compositional convection associated with a finite interfacial solid fraction. The model recovers key features of the experimental results at early times, including the propagation of thermal waves and oscillations in mushy-layer thickness, although tends to overpredict the mean thickness.
spellingShingle Ding, G
Wells, A
Zhong, J
Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth
title Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth
title_full Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth
title_fullStr Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth
title_full_unstemmed Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth
title_short Solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling. Part 1. Dynamics of mushy-layer growth
title_sort solidification of binary aqueous solutions under periodic cooling part 1 dynamics of mushy layer growth
work_keys_str_mv AT dingg solidificationofbinaryaqueoussolutionsunderperiodiccoolingpart1dynamicsofmushylayergrowth
AT wellsa solidificationofbinaryaqueoussolutionsunderperiodiccoolingpart1dynamicsofmushylayergrowth
AT zhongj solidificationofbinaryaqueoussolutionsunderperiodiccoolingpart1dynamicsofmushylayergrowth