Heat flow through thermally anisotropic media: A numerical method and its application to an area of the southwest Scottish Highlands

Abstract

A numerical method is outlined for the solution of the conduction equation with source term for regions with thermal anisotropy. A number of general models are considered and temperatures, thermal gradients and heat flows are calculated to show the anisotropy effects. The model is applied to an area of the southwest Scottish Highlands to investigate the possible effect of thermal anisotropy on metamorphism. It is found that thermal anisotropy may have contributed to the metamorphism, but the most important effect is that of non-uniformity of thermal conductivity in the vertical direction. Deep local sources may also contribute to the conditions causing metamorphism.