EMBEDDING MULTIDIMENSIONAL ABLATION PROBLEMS IN INVERSE HEAT CONDUCTION PROBLEMS USING FINITE DIFFERENCES.

A unique numerical lumped parameter finite differences algorithm is presented for determining a material's thermal response to ablation. The unique feature of the procedure is an embedding of the ablation problem in an inverse heat conduction problem which geometrically encloses it. The algorithm is applicable to multidimensional problems and permits the use of both implicit approximate factorization and explicit finite difference approximations. An application of the numerical method is demonstrated by applying it to the thermal analysis of a reentry body.