Mushy layer

A mushy layer contains solid crystals and liquid in local phase equilibrium, rather than a single sharp phase boundary. Its solid fraction changes as heat and solute are transported. A concentration-dependent liquidus couples temperature to liquid composition; a connected crystal framework makes the residual liquid behave as a porous-media flow.

A uniform-permeability mushy layer on an impermeable eutectic floor, under the quadratic roof pressure $p_0-E^2{x}^2/2$, has Darcy flux $\mathbf{q}=\alpha (x,-z)$, where $\alpha =\Pi E^2/\mu$. With pulling velocity $-V{\mathbf{e}}_z$, pure primary crystals, solid fraction $\varphi$, liquid concentration $C$ and constant phase properties, its one-dimensional balances areThe solidification product at the eutectic floor retains bulk composition $C_s=(1-\varphi (0))C_E$. Integration gives $C_s=C_0-(\alpha /V){\int }_0^h(C-C_0)dz$: horizontal strain removes solute before the material freezes. A negative predicted $C_s$ is inadmissible, and diagnoses failure of the assumed steady branch rather than a negative-composition product.

Set $\delta =\sqrt{2\kappa /\alpha }$, $R=\alpha h/V$ and $S=L/[c_p(T_0-T_E)]$. In the regular limit $R\gg S\gg 1$, at fixed finite thermal strain number $\alpha h^2/\kappa$ and bounded phase fraction, the heat equation reduces to $\kappa T^{\prime \prime }+\alpha z{T}^{\prime }=0$. Integration gives the displayed error function profile. Matching the roof temperature gradient $G$ yieldsThe product composition is $C_s=C_0-\alpha (T_0-T_E)\delta [1-e^{-(h/\delta {)}^2}]/[mV\sqrt{\pi }\mathrm{erf}(h/\delta )]$. The asymptotic reduction requires admissible phase fractions. If the thermal strain number grows singularly with $R$, the two ordering inequalities alone do not control boundary-layer errors; the full strain-driven steady mush equations retain the latent-heat term.

In a stationary mushy layer with fixed $T=T_E+Gz$, pure solid and local liquidus $C=-T/m$, solute conservation is ${\partial }_t[(1-\varphi )C]=D{\partial }_z[(1-\varphi )C_z]$. Since $C_z=-G/m$ is constant, it reduces to $(z+T_E/G){\varphi }_t=D{\varphi }_z$. The method of characteristics makes the displayed $\eta$ constant and gives $\varphi =f(\eta )$ within the region that remains mush. For negative $T_E$, the characteristics move upward where the equilibrium concentration is positive. Extrapolating a zero-solid-fraction level is not sufficient to determine a boundary when additional flux constraints create a liquid cap or a solid-fraction jump.

For nonzero imposed thermal gradient and linear liquidus equilibrium, $C_z=-G/m\ne 0$ wherever a mixture of crystals and pore liquid persists. A sealed boundary requires zero solute flux, so a local-equilibrium mush trace there would require $1-\varphi =0$, not a zero-solid-fraction roof. In particular a pure-liquid trace with the equilibrium concentration gradient has nonzero diffusive flux. A sealed column must develop a nonequilibrium-in-the-liquid temperature/composition relation, a separate liquid cap, or an appropriate phase-fraction jump; simply transporting the initial zero-fraction level violates the boundary condition.

Assume a column is sealed to salt at both ends, diffusion occurs only in liquid, and its imposed temperature increases strictly upward. A finite-width equilibrium mushy layer cannot be stationary: its solute flux is nonzero unless its liquid fraction vanishes. The final state is pure ice below a height $h_f$ and uniform-composition brine above it. Their interface obeys $C_f=-(T_E+G{h}_f)/m$. The displayed mass conservation equation fixes $h_f$ from the initial salt content. For a diffusive steadily pulled equilibrium mush, let $H=-T_E/G$, $c=m{C}_0/G$, $d=D/V$ and $h_0=H-c-d$. The initial salt content is $N=C_0[h_0+d\log (1+h_0/c)]$. Thus the liquid-cap depth ${\ell }_f=h_0-h_f$ obeys ${\ell }_f({\ell }_f+c+d)=c[h_0+d\log (1+h_0/c)]$, which has one positive root. This conclusion assumes no subsequent exchange with an underlying eutectic reservoir.

A stagnant mushy-layer model has no bulk advection, equal phase mass densities, pure solid, and local equilibrium on the liquidus. With liquid fraction $\varphi$, specific enthalpy $E=c_{p}T+L\varphi$ and bulk solute concentration $B=\varphi C$, neglecting solute diffusion inside the mushy layer gives $T_t+(L/c_p){\varphi }_t=\kappa T_{zz}$ and $(\varphi C{)}_t=0$. The latter fixes composition at each stationary material level; it does not automatically set every level to the initial liquid concentration when solute can diffuse ahead of the growing mush.

For $\mathcal{C}=C_0/\Delta C\gg 1$ and inverse Stefan number $\mathcal{S}=O(\mathcal{C})$, a stagnant mushy-layer model has nearly constant effective heat capacity, giving ${\Omega }^2{\theta }_t=\kappa {\theta }_{zz}$ with ${\Omega }^2=1+\mathcal{S}/\mathcal{C}$. With negligible liquid solutal diffusivity, roof value $\theta =-1$, positive liquid superheat ${\theta }_{\infty }$, and edge $h=2\lambda \sqrt{\kappa t}$, the mush profile is $\theta =-1+\mathrm{erf}(\Omega \eta )/\mathrm{erf}(\Omega \lambda )$. Matching heat flux requires $\Omega e^{{\lambda }^2}\mathrm{erfc}\lambda ={\theta }_{\infty }{e}^{{\Omega }^2{\lambda }^2}\mathrm{erf}(\Omega \lambda )$. The square on $\Omega$ in the exponential is essential. The porosity $\mathcal{C}/(\mathcal{C}-\theta )$ records the leading composition balance; the linear thermal profile is asymptotic, not exact at finite $\mathcal{C}$.

At a sharp mush–liquid edge with linear liquidus $T_L=T_m-mC$, marginal equilibrium makes the liquid temperature gradient tangent to the local liquidus: $T_z=-m{C}_z$. Together with $T=T_L$ at the edge and $T\ge T_L$ in the exterior liquid, it supplies the usual absence-of-constitutional supercooling closure. When solute diffusion is neglected inside the mushy layer but retained outside it, interfacial solute conservation can require a small solid fraction jump; imposing unit porosity as an additional finite-diffusivity condition generally overdetermines this sharp-edge reduction.

The solid fraction is the volume fraction occupied by solid in a solid–liquid mixture. The complementary liquid fraction is $1-\phi$.

The liquid fraction is the volume fraction occupied by liquid in a solid–liquid mixture. For a saturated rigid mushy layer, it is the porosity available to Darcy flux.

For constant phase mass densities ${\rho }_s,{\rho }_l$, a fixed solid framework has mixture density $\bar{\rho }={\rho }_s\phi +{\rho }_l(1-\phi )$. Mass conservation giveswhere $\mathbf{u}$ is Darcy flux. Equal phase densities give a divergence-free flux. Unequal densities require expansion or contraction flow during freezing or melting.