The effect of local thermal non-equilibrium on impulsive conduction in porous media

We examine the effect of local thermal non-equilibrium on the evolution of the stagnant temperature field in a semi-infinite porous medium. When local thermal equilibrium pertains, the temperature field which is induced by a step change in the temperature of a plane boundary is given by the classical conduction solution involving the complementary error function. When thermal local equilibrium does not apply, then conduction takes place more rapidly in one phase than in the other, although local thermal equilibrium is always approached as time increases. This note examines the evolution of the temperature field in each phase in detail using numerical methods, and the numerical solutions are supplemented by asymptotic solutions valid for both small and large times. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.