Transient heat conduction in a medium with two circular cavities: Semi-analytical solution

This paper considers a transient heat conduction problem for an infinite medium with two non-overlapping circular cavities. Suddenly applied, steady Dirichlet type boundary conditions are assumed. The approach is based on superposition and the use of the general solution to the problem of a single cavity. Application of the Laplace transform results in a semi-analytical solution for the temperature in the form of a truncated Fourier series. The large-time asymptotic formulae for the solution are obtained by using the analytical solution in the Laplace domain. The method can be extended to problems with multiple cavities and inhomogeneities.