Determination of Thermal Properties of Fresh Water and Sea Water Ice using Multiphysics Analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology to determine the thermal conductivity of ice using multiphysics analysis. This methodology used a combination of both experimentation and numerical simulation. In the experimental work, an ice block is observed using an infrared camera. The results reveal the variation in temperature over the surface. These results are dependent on two primary heat transfer parameters, namely, conductivity of ice within the ice cuboid and overall heat transfer coefficient. In addition to these two parameters, the surrounding temperature also affects the observed temperature profile. In the numerical simulation, the same behaviour is simulated using multiphysics tools. In this work, the finite difference method is used to discretize the heat equation and is solved using an FTCS (Forward-Time Central-Space) method in MATLAB® software. The inputs to the simulation are the thermal properties of ice. These parameters are varied to match with the experimental results, hence revealing the real-time thermal properties of ice and surroundings.