A Method for the Solution of Heat Transfer Problems With a Change of Phase

A method of broad applicability is presented which can be used to obtain solutions to problems involving a phase change. The solution in one of the phases is specified as a known single-phase solution; an inverse analysis then determines the solution for the other phase. Two problems are studied: The first yields the similarity solution for the planar geometry and the second gives the exact solution to a more general problem. Convergence is shown and error bounds are given. The method can accommodate convection, heat generation, variable properties, nonplanar, and multidimensional systems.