Free boundary problems arising in the freezing of soils in a bounded region. I: The mathematical formulation of the physical problem (Q1075508)

The authors have considered a tube insulated from the surroundings, part of which is filled with frozen soil and the other part with soil and water. The freezing is accomplished by the withdrawal of heat at a specific rate from the left hand side. The right hand side of the tube is insulated and no mass is allowed to escape from it. It has been assumed that both the water-soil and ice-soil phases are compressible and the densities of the frozen and unfrozen phases are unequal. More precisely, the density of the solid phase is assumed to be strictly less than that of the liquid phase at any time. After the statement of the physical problem rigorous mathematical formulation of the problem based upon the uncoupled theory of thermoesticity is given. In the last section they have stated the three boundary problems, the solutions of which are given in subsequent papers.