Exact Solution for Nonlinear Thermal Diffusion and Its Use for Verification

Abstract

An analytical solution is provided to the nonlinear diffusion equation, with the thermal conductivity given as a linear function of temperature. The derivation of the solution, and implications of it, are presented. The boundary and initial conditions associated with the solution provide applicability to specific cases. The solution is useful for verifying numerical (computer) solutions to thermal diffusion with temperature-dependent thermal conductivity. The (nonlinear) analytical solution is compared to a numerical solution from a finite element code to verify the accuracy of the code and to establish the order of convergence for the spatial discretization error