Thermal energy storage systems have a great deal of attention in air conditioning building applications, they contribute to minimize energy consumption and improve thermal comfort of occupants. Latent heat energy storage via phase change materials is the most favorable form. This paper deals with prediction of energy storage composite thermal behavior. The composite is an expanded perlite loaded with a paraffin wax as Phase Change Material (PCM) and surrounded by aluminum sheets. Melting phase change heat transfer in composite structure is numerically studied through a 3D configuration exposed to a regular heat flux. The simulation of unsteady laminar model was performed by Ansys Fluent software for six cycles of charging and discharging. The enthalpy porosity technique was adopted. Studied parameters are the temperature evolution, the heat flux density and the PCM active liquid fraction. As results, the temperature variation was reduced by 3.25°K and shifted around 2 hours by using paraffin. The PCM active liquid fraction evolution showed that the paraffin was partly used and the convective heat transfer was slow. In order to enhance the heat transfer rate, aluminum particles are added in different fractions. A reduction in melting and solidification time was noticed when the aluminum percentage increases.

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