ANALYTICAL STUDY OF HEMISPHERICAL ICE SUBLIMATION IN ENCLOSURES WITH HUMIDITY AND FORCED CONVECTION

Abstract

In real life, sublimation of ice under certain conditions results in non-uniform formation of ice cubes with irregular shapes. During extracting these irregularly shaped cubes from enclosed spaces, the openings through which the cubes move can be plugged. A deep analysis of the sublimation process should be applied to make the shape of the ice cubes homogeneous and smooth-edged. Although there is an analytical method for the sublimation of spherical ice in literature, the hemispherical shape has not been studied. Furthermore, if ice formation and sublimation occur simultaneously within a place confined by a wall, novel approaches are necessary. In the current study, an analytical method has been proposed for the sublimation from a hemispherical ice sample as a combination of the models for the spherical and circular flat surfaces. The sublimation rate calculated by this new analytical method has been compared to the results from the weighing experiments and visualizations where the sublimation over time was measured by processing a series of images of ice cubes. There is a good agreement between the calculated values and the mass loss observed in the visualized images and the weighted samples. Thus, it is concluded that the sublimation rate is correlated with the velocity, temperature, and relative humidity of the air flowing over the ice cubes undergoing sublimation.