New perspectives for modelling ballistic-diffusive heat conduction

Among the three heat conduction modes (diffusive, second sound, and ballistic propagation), the ballistic one is the most difficult to model. In the present paper, we discuss its physical interpretations and show different alternatives to its modelling. We highlight two of them: a thermo-mechanical model in which the generalized heat equation—the so-called Maxwell–Cattaneo–Vernotte equation—is coupled to thermal expansion. The other one uses internal variables in the framework of non-equilibrium thermodynamics. For the first one, we developed a numerical solution and tested it on the heat pulse experiment performed by McNelly et al. on NaF samples. For the second one, we found an analytical solution that emphasizes the role of boundary conditions. This analytical method is used to validate an earlier developed numerical code.