| The dissertation forms a comprehensive study that examines conduction heat waves from the viewpoint of theoretical formulation, thermodynamic validity, experimental validation, and parameter range of importance, as well as develops analytical and numerical solutions for a variety of problems where hyperbolic conduction is significant. It is shown that the standard hyperbolic wave equation is thermodynamically valid for almost all engineering applications. Experiments are conducted that offer clear evidence for the first time that transient heat conduction in biological materials in wave-like in nature. The range of parameters where the wave nature is important are quantified and a regime map is presented. A few applications where the hyperbolic wave effects are significant are considered in detail. These are laser-surface interactions, laser-tissue interactions, and Stefan problems in one and two dimensions. These applications are selected because of the short-pulse nature of modern lasers and their growing applications in materials processing and surgery. The dissertation establishes through experimental and theoretical studies that the standard hyperbolic model is a valid conduction model and that hyperbolic, or wave, effects are significant in many important modern applications. |
