The convective heat transfer and fluid flow that occurs during laser surface melting is examined through a series of numerical computations. The momentum equations and the energy equation are solved by a finite-difference method with a grid-stretching transformation, which places more grid points in the molten region. The effects of thermocapillary convection in the melt and the moving speed of the external heat source on the shape of the solid-liquid interface are considered. Results show that the latent heat of fusion and different dimensionless parameters associated with the moving uniform heat flux have profound effects on determining the melting shape.
