Simulation of wave and front propagation in thermoelastic materials with phase transformation

A thermodynamically consistent form for the finite-volume numerical method for thermoelastic wave and front propagation is proposed in the paper. Such a reformulation provides the applicability of the Godunov type numerical schemes based on averages of field variables to the description of non-equilibrium situations. The non-equilibrium description is fulfilled by using contact quantities instead of numerical fluxes. The contact quantities satisfy the thermodynamic consistency conditions at interfaces which generalize the classical equilibrium conditions. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.