The boundary element method applied to freezing and melting problems

Journal Article · · Numerical Heat Transfer. Part B, Fundamentals; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10407799308955893· OSTI ID:5717477

Vick, B; Nelson, D J ^[1]

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1. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (United States). Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Solutions for problems involving phase change have been attempted using a variety of techniques, including finite-difference, finite element, and approximate analytical methods. In all these methods the main difficulty is tracking the phase front, since it evolves as a nonlinear function of the temperature distribution. The objective of this article is to demonstrate the numerical advantages of the boundary element method (BEM) for this class of problems. The opposed BEM reduces the problem to a nonlinear set of integral equations for the location of the phase front. These integral equations can be solved numerically using simple basis functions for the unknown boundary data, with no need to discretion the entire domain. A general solution for multidimensional problems is proposed. The numerical accuracy and characteristics of the method are demonstrated using a one-dimensional freezing problem. It is shown that accurate, computationally efficient, and numerically stable solutions can be obtained using implicit time discretization.

• OSTI ID: 5717477
• Journal Information: Numerical Heat Transfer. Part B, Fundamentals; (United States), Journal Name: Numerical Heat Transfer. Part B, Fundamentals; (United States) Vol. 24:3; ISSN 1040-7790; ISSN NHBFEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD
CALCULATION METHODS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
INTERFACES
MANY-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION