In this study, direct contact melting with an asymmetric load was investigated both experimentally and by numerical analysis. A rectangular parallelepiped solid on a heating surface was melted under various asymmetric loads, while total load acting on the solid and brine temperature were kept constant. In the numerical analysis, the melting process keeping the force balance between the pressure in the liquid film and the loads at all times was calculated. It was found that the average heat flux into the solid was independent of the moment acting on the solid. Analytical results of the time dependencies of the amount of melting and the inclination of the solid agreed with experimental ones for each condition. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.