ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the formulation of Stefan Problems as models of basic phase-change processes. Under certain restrictions on the parameters and data such problems admit explicit solutions in closed form. It begins with the simplest possible models, the classical 1-phase Stefan problem and 2-phase Stefan Problem, modeling the most basic aspects of a phase-change process. The simplest explicitly solvable phase-change problem is the 1-phase Stefan Problem with constant imposed temperature and constant thermophysical properties. Its solution is the classical Neumann similarity solution involving the error function. For many years effective means have been sought for storing heat as the latent heat of melting of a material. The prime source of such energy is solar, which is intermittent, and whose energy, derived during sunlit periods, is needed at other times. Computing power has grown to the point where it is now possible to simulate realistic two- and three-dimensional heat transfer and phase-change processes.
