Making curved interfaces straight in phase‐change problems

Published in Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng. Vol. 24 (2), pp. 375-392, 1987
doi: 10.1002/nme.1620240208

Abstract

This paper presents a method for straightening curved interfaces arising in phase‐change problems. The method works on isoparametric finite elements, performing a second transformation which maps the master element onto a new one in which the interface looks like a straight line. This allows using the current Gaussian integration technique for squares to evaluate the integrals over each phase. The method provides a better estimation of the contribution of latent heat effects to the residual vector, compared to those obtained by using the assumption that the interface is straight. Appropriate guidelines for solving the non‐linear system of equations arising in this kind of problem are also given. Several numerical examples are presented to show the performance of the method.