The Open Thermodynamics Journal

2008, 2 : 59-60
Published online 2008 May 9. DOI: 10.2174/1874396X00802010059
Publisher ID: TOTHERJ-2-59

A Definition of the H-Functional for Heat Conduction

V. Bertola and E. Cafaro
School of Engineering and Electronics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JL, UK.

ABSTRACT

In this Note a mathematical formulation of a monotonically decreasing functional with respect to time (the Hfunctional) is derived for physical systems described by the diffusion equation. This returns a condition which is equivalent to the second law of thermodynamics.