Stationary Temperature Distribution in an Electrically Heated Conductor

Charles A. Domenicali

Citation: Journal of Applied Physics 25, 1310 (1954); doi: 10.1063/1.1721551

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 1310 SAVITT, STRESAU, AND STARR

It is of considerable interest to observe (see Fig. 9)
that the curved conical crack previously mentioned
(see Fig. 2) can be produced alone without the straight
one. This was accomplished by loading the copper
cylinders of Fig. 9 only as far as the position indicated.
The straight cracks which we associate with the meeting
of the relaxation waves reflected from both the side and
the end of the cylinder are absent but the curved crack
appears in the same position relative to the end of the
explosive column. We conclude then that the curved
cracks are associated only with the end of the explosive
column while the straight cracks are the result of the
interaction mechanism which depends upon the position
and geometry of the metal cylinder surfaces.

JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS VOLUME 25, NUMBER 10 OCTOBER, 1954

Stationary Temperature Distribution in an Electrically Heated Conductor*

CHARLES A. DOMENICALI
Franklin Institute Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
(Received January 11, 1954)

The thermodynamic theory of irreversible processes as developed by Onsager, de Groot, and Callen is
used to derive in a straightforward way the partial differential equation for the stationary temperature
distribution in an electrically heated, chemically inhomogeneous conductor. It is shown that the form of
this differential equation given in 1900 by Diesselhorst (for homogeneous media) in terms of the electrical
potential gradient V<I> is incorrect. Diesselhorst's equation reads V'KVT+O'rVT'V<I>+O'(V<I2=O, in
which K is the thermal conductivity (for zero electrical current), T the temperature, 0' the isothermal elec-
trical conductivity, and r the Thomson coefficient. The correct form of the equation, for the special case
of a chemically homogeneous conductor, is V 'KVT+ (1/O')]2-rJ VT=O, where J is the electrical current
density. The correct form can be obtained from Diesselhorst's equation by substitution of the "isothermal
Ohm's law" J = -O'V<I>, which, however, is not valid in a nonisothermal medium. The apparent difficulty
is resolved by the method of Onsager-de Groot-Callen, and it is shown that the correct differential equation
expressed in terms of electrical potential is much more complicated than the form given by Diesselhorst.

W E wish to show how the thermodynamic theory

of Onsager,l Callen,2 and de Groot3 leads in a
straightforward way to the differential equation de-
scribing the stationary distribution of temperature in
an electrically heated conductor. This differential equa-
tion, easy to derive in the usual way by considering
heat production rates and heat transfer within the con-
ducting medium, has on occasion been expressed in-
correctly in terms of the electrical potential gradient
vcp. The form often referred to is that of Diesselhorst,4
namely
V 'KvT+O'TVT'V<t>+0'(V<t2=0, (l)
in which K is the thermal conductivity (for zero elec-
trical current), T is the absolute temperature, 0' and
T are, respectively, the (isothermal) electrical conduc-
Thus, in the present problem of finding the partial
differential equation describing the stationary tempera-
ture distribution in an inhomogeneous, electrically
heated conductor, one needs only to set the divergence
of the total energy vector W equal to zero, where 5
W = - (lie) (TS*+iL) J-KVT,
-e is the electron charge, T the absolute temperature,
S* the entropy transported per particle (electron), J
the electrical current density, and K the thermal con-
ductivity (at zero electrical current). In the steady
state there can be no accumulation of energy within
any arbitrary region of the current-carrying medium
and the divergence of W must vanish.

tivity and the Thomson coefficient. We shall show that O=V'W

the correct equation expressed in terms of the electrical
potential gradient is quite complicated and in fact
consists of seven terms.
One of the advantages of the Onsager-de Groot-Callen
theory is that it represents a kind of "field theory" of
thermodynamics in the sense that one can describe
irreversible phenomena in terms of vector functions
which depend in general on position and on the time.
* This work has been supported by the Squier Signal Labora-
tory, Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
lL. Onsager, Phys. Rev. 38, 2265 (1931); Ann. New York
Acad. Sci. 46, 241 (1945).
2 H. B. Callen, Phys. Rev. 73, 1349 (1949).
3 S. R. de Groot, Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes
(Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York, 1951).
4 H. Diesselhorst, Ann. Physik 1, 312 (1900).
= - (l/e)Jv (TS*+iL)-V 'KVT
= - (lje)J (TVS*+S*VT +V iL)-V KVT. (2)
Now in an isotropic but inhomogeneous medium the
parameter S* depends not only on temperature but
also on position, S*=S*(x,y,z; T), so that the gradient
vS* has the form VS*= (8S*18T)xiVT+V T S*, where
the subscript Xi indicates that the derivative (8S*jaT)xi
is to be taken at a fixed point Xi( = x,y,z), and the sub-
script T indicates that the gradient V TS* is to be taken
at fixed temperature. In a homogeneous material this
latter gradient vanishes.
6 C. A. Domenicali, Phys. Rev. 92, 877 (1953).

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 STATIONARY TEMPERATURE
It has been shown,5,6 that in a non isothermal medium
the usual form of Ohm's law, V</:>= - (l/u)J, must be
replaced by the "generalized Ohm's law"
Vjl=Vf,J.-eV</:>= (e/u)J-S*VT, (3)
in which the electrochemical potential jl is separated
into a chemical part (the chemical potential f,J.) and an
electrical part (the electrical potential </: ; viz., jl= f,J.- e</:>.
If we then make use of Eq. (3) and the separation of
V S* into a spatial and a temperature part as described
in the previous paragraph, Eq. (2) becomes
0= - (l/e)J -[T(aS*/a T) XiV T + TVTS*
+S*vT+ (e/u) J -S*v TJ-v 'KvT
= - (l/e)T(as*/aT)x i J VT- (l/e)TJ vTs*
-(l/U)JLVKVT. (4)
The coefficient of J. VT in Eq. (4) is called2 ,3,5,7 the
Thomson coefficient T, and - (1/ e)S*=Sabs= - IIabs/T,
where Sabs and IIabs are, respectively, the absolute
thermoelectric power and the absolute Peltier coefficient
of the material at point Xi at temperature T. Inserting
these quantities into Eq. (4) we find the required dif-
ferential equation specifying the stationary tempera-
ture distribution in an electrically heated, inhomo-
geneous conductor,
The third term in (5) represents an "inhomogeneity
Peltier heat" which vanishes in a homogeneous con-
ductor, so that for this latter kind of medium (5) takes
6H. B. Callen, Phys. Rev. 85, 16 (1952).
7Callen and de Groot use a positive charge in their definitions
whereas we use -ej this accounts for the difference in sign of the
Thomson coefficient. On the other hand, the electrical current and
the particle current in our case are in opposite directions, so that
our equations involving 'T are identical with those of Callen and
de Groot.
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DISTRIBUTION 1311
the simpler form
VKVT+(1/u)J2-rJVT=O. (6)
If one substitutes J in terms of V</:> from Eq. (3) into
(6), one finds the complicated equation,
-~
U( T--2S*)
- VfJ.'VT--
e e
- T--;
s*U( S*) (VT)2
u 2u
+_(Vf,J.)L_VfJ.' V</:>= O.
2
(7)
e e
Thus the correct equation, expressed in terms of the
electrical potential gradient, contains five extra terms
in addition to the three given by Diesselhorst's equation
(1). On the other hand, comparison of (6) and (1)
shows that the incorrect Eq. (1) leads to the correct
relation (6) upon substitution of the incorrect (in a
nonisothermal region) expression J = -uV</:>. The ex-
planation of this difficulty is as follows. Substitution of
V</:> from (3) into (7) leads back to the form (6) and not,
of course, to the Diesselhorst form (1). On the other
hand, if we start with (1) and use the incorrect relation
V</:>= - (l/u)J, we are neglecting exactly all the terms
in Vf,J. and -S*vT in both (3) and (7), which make
(7) reduce to (1) and which make Vf,J.-eV</:>= (e/u)J
-S*VT reduce to V</:>= - (l/u)J.
The correct Eq. (7) expressed in terms of V</:> is not
only complicated but is rather useless because little is
known about the chemical potential f,J. in actual sub-
stances. We should, therefore, prefer to use the relation
(6) in practice. If the current density distribution is
known, (6) can be used (in principle) to find the actual
stationary temperature distribution in a conducting
region subject to given boundary conditions.