PCM Heat Exchanger Melting Simulation

I am looking for a complete numerical model that captures how quickly the phase-change material (PCM) inside a latent-heat storage unit melts and solidifies when heat-transfer fluid flows through several parallel tubes. The geometry is a tube-in-PCM heat exchanger, not a packed bed or single straight tube, so please centre your approach on that configuration.

What matters most is an accurate, transient prediction of the melt/solidification front, local temperatures and the energy stored or released over time. The final model should let me vary tube-side inlet temperature, flow rate and PCM properties so that I can explore different operating scenarios later without rewriting the code.

Please choose whatever CFD or numerical platform you are most comfortable with—ANSYS Fluent, COMSOL, OpenFOAM, custom Python/FORTRAN with an enthalpy method, etc.—as long as the phase-change physics are treated properly and the results can be regenerated on my end. Document all assumptions, boundary conditions and material data you use.

Deliverables
• Simulation setup files and source code
• Clear instructions for rerunning and modifying the case
• A brief report summarising model formulation, verification steps and key plots (temperature fields, melt/freeze fraction vs. time, energy stored)

I will review the work by re-running the case, checking that the melt/freeze times match the report and confirming that parameter changes produce physically reasonable trends. If you can meet these points, I’m ready to get started.