Heat Conduction in Heterogeneous Materials

Abstract

A new solution to the heat equation in composite media is derived using a variational principle developed by Ben-Amoz. The model microstructure is fed into the equations via a term for the polar moment of the inclusions in a representative volume. The general solution is presented as an integral in terms of sources and a Green function. The problem of uniqueness is studied to determine appropriate boundary conditions. The solution reduces to the solution of the normal heat equation in the limit of homogeneous media.