Flux formulation of hyperbolic heat conduction

Abstract

The development of the general flux formulation for heat conduction based on the modified Fourier's law is presented. This new formulation produces a hyperbolic vector equation in heat flux which is more convenient to use for analysis in situations involving specified flux conditions than the standard temperature formulation. The recovery of the temperature distribution is obtained through integration of the energy conservation law with respect to time. The Green's function approach is utilized to develop a general solution for hyperbolic heat conduction in a finite medium. The utility of the flux formulation and the unusual nature of heat conduction based on the hyperbolic formulation are demonstrated by developing analytical expressions for the heat flux and temperature distributions in a finite slab exposed to a pulsed surface heat flux.