Heat Transfer in a Region with Non-Uniform Boundary Conditions

Abstract

Heat transfer in a rectangular region with non-uniform conditions on the walls is considered. The temperature is given on both vertical walls and a part of the upper wall. The remainder of the upper wall and the lower horizontal wall are perfectly insulated. This boundary value problem is reduced to dual Fourier series equations. Those equations are simplified under the assumption that the height of the region is greater than the length or comparable to it. An exact solution of the simplified equations is constructed by using the Schwinger transformation, which has been used successfully in analyzing the electro-dynamics of wave guides. Numerical solutions also are found using a commercial finite element solver and a finite difference solver written in FORTRAN. Results for the average temperature and the temperature distribution in the region for a variety of high temperature boundary locations are in very good agreement among the three solution techniques.

Keywords:

• Heat transfer
• dual Fourier series
• Schwinger transform
• finite elements
• finite difference