The melting process of lauric acid in a square container heated from the top surface was
numerically studied from an experimental case. Knowledge of this process is of special interest
for computationally efficient modeling systems, such as PCM-enhanced photovoltaic panels in
horizontal positions or energy storage using PCM embedded on flat surfaces. In these systems, the
geometric arrangement of the PCM hinders the fluid-phase movements through natural convection,
which slows the melting process and can cause overheating in the fluid phase. Using Ansys Fluent
Software, three different approaches and two simulation methods, enthalpy-porosity and effective
heat capacity, were developed for the numerical study. The results were compared with experimental
measurements in a successful evaluation of the accuracy of computational fluid dynamics simulations.
It could be observed that the effective heat capacity method presented significant advantages over the
enthalpy-porosity method, since similar accuracy results were obtained, and a lower computational
cost was required.
