Simulation of freezing of water-saturated porous media in a rectangular cavity under multiple heat sources with different temperature using a combined transfinite interpolation and PDE methods

A numerical study is made of the freezing of water-saturated porous media in a rectangular cavity subjected to multiple heat sources with different temperature. Focus is placed on establishing a computationally efficient approach for solving multi-dimensional moving boundary problem in a two-dimensional structured grids. Preliminary grids are first generated by an algebraic method, based on a transfinite interpolation method, with subsequent refinement using a PDE mapping (parabolic grid generation) method. A preliminary case study indicates successful implementation of the numerical procedure. A two-dimensional freezing model is validated against available analytical solution and experimental results. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.