Experimental measurement and theoretical analyses of the freezing-thawing processes around a probe

Both the experimental and the analytical studies of the freezing/thawing pr ocess around a cryosurgical cylinder probes in a simulative biological tiss ue are presented in this paper. The enthalpy method and the finite element scheme are applied to solve the multidimensional phase change problems in c ryosurgery. A very good agreement is found between the computed solutions a nd the experimental results. The influences of different cooling-warming sc hemes of the probe on the ice ball development, the temperature variation, the axial and the radial temperature gradients inside the tissues, and the requirement of cooling power are analyzed.