Numerical simulation of melting in porous media via an interfacial tracking model

Melting in porous media within a rectangular enclosure with the presence of natural convection is simulated using an interfacial tracking method. This method combines the advantages of both the deforming and fixed-grid methods. Convection in the liquid region is modeled using the Navier-Stokes equation with Darcy's term and Forchheimer's extension. The results are obtained by using the interfacial tracking method, which is validatedby comparing with the existing experimental and numerical results. The results show that the interfacial tracing method is capable of solving natural convection-controlled melting problems in porous media at both high and low Prandtl numbers.