Diffusion through two adjoining slabs with different diffusion coefficients.

Description

Two slabs with different diffusion coefficients are placed next to each other. They are insulated along their lengths, but exposed at their ends. The discontinuity in diffusion coefficients where the slabs meet is modeled by a continuous function over a single spatial step. It is essential that the functional equation for the discontinuous diffusion coefficient be represented by a continuous function for the partial differential equation solvers. Two approaches are given: 1.) The diffusion is given as a piecewise continuous function joining the two different diffusion coefficients and linearly changing value from D1 to D2 from b-x.delta/2 to b+x.delta/2. 2.) The diffusion is given by a smooth hyperbolic function. The analytic steady state solution is from the problem where the diffusion coefficients form a discontinuous function. The solution for the Steady State Problem is derived from CanalyticSS(x) = if (x<=b) C1*x+C2 else C3*x+C4, where the coefficients C1, C2, C3, and C4 satisfy at x=x.min: C1*x.min + C2 = Cleft at x=b: C1*b + C2 = C3*b +C4 (concentration is continuous at x=b) D1*C1 = D2*C3 (flux on both sides of x=b are in equilibrium) at x=x.max: C3*x.max + C4 = Cright. See Notes for Figure description

Equations

     Two separate partial differential equation models

     where the diffusion coefficients as a function of x are given respectively by

     Analytic Steady-state Solution

The equations for this model may be viewed by running the JSim model applet and clicking on the Source tab at the bottom left of JSim's Run Time graphical user interface. The equations are written in JSim's Mathematical Modeling Language (MML). See the Introduction to MML and the MML Reference Manual. Additional documentation for MML can be found by using the search option at the Physiome home page.