Approximate closed form analytical solution of the desublimation problem in a porous medium

Abstract

An approximate analytical method for solving a desublimation problem is presented. The method is based on the criterion that the total error over the domain of interest which results from introducing an approximate solution into the governing equation of a boundary‐value problem must be kept to a minimum. The results thus obtained are compared with the corresponding exact solution and are in good agreement. The method has now been applied to a problem where the Luikov number is a linear function of moisture concentration. The effect of variability of Luikov number with nondimensional moisture concentration, nondimensional frozen‐moisture concentration as well as the location of the moving desublimation front are shown graphically. Copyright © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd