A Numerical Investigation of Frost Growth on Cold Surfaces Based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method

A numerical investigation of frost growth on a cold flat surface was presented based on two-dimensional Lattice Boltzmann model. This model has been validated to have less prediction error by past experiments. According to the results, it is shown that average frost density appears different at an increasing rate at different frosting stages. In addition, cold surface temperature has great influence on frost growth parameters such as frost crystal deposition mass, frost deposition rate, and frost crystal volume fraction. It was found that the frost crystal deposition mass, frost crystal volume, and the deposition rate first increase rapidly, then gradually slow down, finally remaining unchanged while the cold surface temperature decreases. The further away from the cold surface, the more sparser the frost layer structure becomes due to the smaller frost crystal volume fraction.