FINITE-SPEED PROPAGATION OF HEAT - A NONLOCAL AND NONLINEAR APPROACH

A linear weakly nonlocal and finite-speed theory of heat conduction in rigid solids was presented by Lebon and Grmela in Phys. Lett. A 214 ( 1996) 184. In the present paper, this work is extended to a fully nonl inear theory. The extension is based on the requirement that the Hamil tonian structure already present in the linear approach is kept in til e nonlinear theory. From the physical point of view, this requirement guarantees that solutions to the governing equations agree with certai n fundamental experimental observations. During the time evolution, th e total energy is shown to remain constant and the total entropy is sh own to grow.