A method of fundamental solutions for the radially symmetric inverse heat conduction problem

We propose and investigate an application of the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) to the radially symmetric inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP). In the radially symmetric IHCP data on an inner fixed boundary is determined from Cauchy data given on an outer boundary. This is an inverse and ill-posed problem, and we employ and generalize the MFS regularization approach of Johansson et al. (2008) for the time-dependent heat equation to obtain a stable and accurate numerical approximation with small computational cost.     

An inverse estimation of surface temperature using the maximum entropy method

The maximum entropy method (MEM) is applied to estimation of surface temperature from temperature readings. The inverse heat conduction problem is reformulated for MEM and a three-phase solution method utilizing the successive quadratic programming (SQP) is addressed. Computational results by the proposed MEM are presented and compared with results by the conventional methods.     

Lattice Boltzmann simulation of heat conduction problems in non‐isothermally heated enclosures

A numerical study following the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is performed to solve transient heat conduction problems with and without volumetric heat generation/absorption in 2D and 3D Cartesian geometries. Uniform lattices are considered for both geometries. To validate the correctness of LBM, a finite difference method (FDM) is also used to solve the 2D problem without heat generation/absorption and results are compared with that of LBM. For both 2D and 3D geometries one of the walls is heated and cooled with a sinusoidal function and the rest of the walls are cooled isothermally. Effects of amplitude of the sinusoidal function and volumetric heat generation/absorption on temperature profiles are analyzed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20406     

A two-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem in estimating the fluid temperature in a pipeline

An inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) was investigated in the two-dimensional section of a pipe elbow with thermal stratification to estimate the unknown transient fluid temperatures near the inner wall of the pipeline. An inverse algorithm based on the conjugate gradient method (CGM) was proposed to solve the IHCP using temperature measurements on the outer wall. In order to examine the accuracy of estimations, some comparisons have been made in this case. The temperatures obtained from the solution of the direct heat conduction problem (DHCP) using the finite element method (FEM) were pseudo-experimental input data on the outer wall for the IHCP. Comparisons of the estimated fluid temperatures with experimental fluid temperatures near the inner wall showed that the IHCP could accurately capture the actual temperature in form of the frequency of the temperature fluctuations. The analysis also showed that the IHCP needed at least 13 measurement points for the average absolute error to be dramatically reduced for the present IHCP with 37 nodes on each half of the pipe wall.     

Inverse estimation of spatially and temporally varying heating boundary conditions of a two-dimensional object

In many dynamic heat transfer situations, the temperature at the heated boundary is not directly measurable and can be obtained by solving an inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) based on measured temperature or/and heat flux at the accessible boundary. In this study, IHCP in a two-dimensional rectangular object is solved by using the conjugate gradient method (CGM) with temperature and heat flux measured at the boundary opposite to the heated boundary. The inverse problem is formulated in such a way that the heat flux at heated boundary is chosen as the unknown function to be recovered, and the temperature at the heated boundary is computed as a byproduct of the IHCP solution. The measurement data, i.e., the temperature and heat flux at the opposite boundary, are obtained by numerically solving a direct problem where the heated boundary of the object is subjected to spatially and temporally varying heat flux. The robustness of the formulated IHCP algorithm is tested for different profiles of heat fluxes along with different random errors of the measured heat flux at the opposite boundary. The effects of the uncertainties of the thermophysical properties and back-surface temperature measurement on inverse solutions are also examined.     

A technique for uncertainty analysis for inverse heat conduction problems

A technique is presented for the uncertainty analysis of the linear Inverse Heat Conduction Problem (IHCP) of estimating heat flux from interior temperature measurements. The selected IHCP algorithm is described. The uncertainty in thermal properties and temperature measurements is considered. A propagation of variance equation is used for the uncertainty analysis. An example calculation is presented. Parameter importance factors are defined and computed for the example problem; the volumetric heat capacity is the dominant parameter and an explanation is offered. Thoughts are presented on extending the analysis to include the non-linear problem of temperature dependent properties.     

A NONLINEAR INDIRECT MEASUREMENT PROBLEM FOR A MULTITHERMOCOUPLE PROBE IMMERSED IN A LIQUID

The problem described herein concerns the processing of the time-dependent, internal temperatures within a multithermocouple probe. These are used to compute the temperature of the surrounding fluid, as part of an inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP). The novel achievement in this work is that the exchange coefficients do not have to be supplied a priori, but instead are an additional solution output. Consequently the IHCP is nonlinear and requires significant stabilization. Four methods are applied successively, until a satisfactory solution is found: the parameterization of spatial variations in fluid temperatures and exchange coefficients; a functional specification method (using future time data) to address the noncausal nature of the solution; a lower bound on the exchange coefficient; and a maximum number of iterations at each time step (in accordance with the discrepancy principle).     

Reduction of the computational time and noise filtration in the IHCP by using the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method

In this paper a comprehensive investigation is performed on the application of the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) in solving the inverse heat conduction problems (IHCP's). Inverse heat conduction problems are those in which the boundary or the initial condition, or the physical properties are unknown; instead temperature measurements at some locations within the body are available. Two approaches may be taken to solve these mathematically ill-posed problems. These approaches are classified according to whether the problem is modeled using a PDE or a matrix form. In this paper a new approach, namely the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) method is used for solving the IHCP. In this approach, based on the dynamics of the problem on hand, two courses of action may be taken: In the first course the governing PDE is reduced to a system of ODE's which reduces the computational time considerably. In the second approach the ill-conditioned matrix is modified using the singular value decomposition (SVD) which reduces the destructive effects of the random noise of the temperature data. Although both courses of action introduce a bias error into the inverse solution, the considerable reduction in the variance error in the solution makes the method to be quite attractive. In this paper these points are demonstrated through solutions obtained for two standard IHCP's. The results obtained by the methods suggested in this paper are compared with those obtained by the well-known conjugate gradient and Tikhonov regularization methods.     

Identification of boundary heat fluxes in a falling film experiment using high resolution temperature measurements

In this paper, we consider a three-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) in a falling film experiment. The wavy film is heated electrically by a thin constantan foil and the temperature on the back side of this foil is measured by high resolution infrared (IR) thermography. The transient heat flux at the inaccessible film side of the foil is determined from the IR data and the electrical heating power. The IHCP is formulated as a mathematical optimization problem, which is solved with the conjugate gradient method. In each step of the iterative process two direct transient heat conduction problems must be solved. We apply a one step θ-method and piecewise linear finite elements on a tetrahedral grid for the time and space discretization, respectively. The resulting large sparse system of equations is solved with a preconditioned Krylov subspace method. We give results of simulated experiments, which illustrate the performance and tuning of the solution method, and finally present the estimation results from temperature measurements obtained during falling film experiments.     

Reconstruction of local heat fluxes in pool boiling experiments along the entire boiling curve from high resolution transient temperature measurements

In this paper, we consider a transient inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) defined on an irregular three-dimensional (3D) domain in pool boiling experiments. Heat input to a circular copper heater of 35 mm diameter and 7 mm thickness is provided by a resistance heating foil pressed to the bottom of the heater. The heat flux at the inaccessible boiling side is estimated from a number of temperature readings in the heater volume. These temperatures are measured by some high-resolution microthermocouples, which are mounted 3.6 μm below the surface in the test heater. The IHCP is formulated as a mathematical optimization problem and solved by the conjugate gradient (CG) method. The arising partial differential equations (PDEs) are solved using the software package DROPS. A simulation case study is used to validate the performance of the solution approach. Finally, we apply the solution approach to the IHCP in pool boiling experiments. The procedure enables the reconstruction of local instantaneous heat flux distribution on the heater surface at different locations along the boiling curve.     

Monitoring of transient 3D temperature distribution and thermal stress in pressure elements based on the wall temperature measurement

Abstract

Two methods for monitoring the thermal stresses in pressure components of thermal power plants are presented. In the first method, the transient temperature distribution in the pressure component is determined by measuring the transient wall temperature at several points located on the outer insulated surface of the component. The transient temperature distribution in the pressure component, including the temperature of the inner surface is determined from the solution of the inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP). In the first method, there is no need to know the temperature of the fluid and the heat transfer coefficient. In the second method, thermal stresses in a pressure component with a complicated shape are computed using the finite element method (FEM) based on experimentally estimated fluid temperature and known heat transfer coefficient. A new thermometer with good dynamic properties has been developed and applied in practice, providing a much more accurate measurement of the temperature of the flowing fluid in comparison with standard thermometers. The heat transfer coefficient on the inner surface of a pressure element can be determined from the empirical relationships available in the literature. A numerical-experimental method of determination of the transient heat transfer coefficient based on the solution of the 3D-inverse heat conduction problem has also been proposed. The heat transfer coefficient on the internal surface of a pressure element is determined based on an experimentally determined local transient temperature distribution on the external surface of the element or the basis of wall temperature measurement at six points located near the internal surface if fluid temperature changes are fast. Examples of determining thermal and pressure stresses in the thick-walled horizontal superheater header and the horizontal header of the steam cooler in a power boiler with the use of real measurement data are presented.     

Two-Dimensional Inverse Heat Transfer Analysis of Functionally Graded Materials in Estimating Time-Dependent Surface Heat Flux

Two-dimensional transient inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) of functionally graded materials (FGMs) is studied herein. A combination of the finite element (FE) and differential quadrature (DQ) methods as a simple, accurate, and efficient numerical method for FGMs transient heat transfer analysis is employed for solving the direct problem. In order to estimate the unknown boundary heat flux in solving the inverse problem, conjugate gradient method (CGM) in conjunction with adjoint problem is used. The results obtained show good accuracy for the estimation of boundary heat fluxes. The effects of measurement errors on the inverse solutions are also discussed.     

Two-dimensional non-linear inverse heat conduction problem based on the singular value decomposition

In this paper an efficient sequential method is developed in order to estimate the unknown boundary condition on the surface of a body from transient temperature measurements inside the solid. This numerical approach for solving an inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) takes into account two-dimensional problems, planar or axisymmetric cylindrical, composite materials with irregular boundaries and temperature-dependent thermal properties. The unknown surface condition is assumed to have abrupt changes at unknown times. The regularization procedure used for the solution of the IHCP is based on the singular value decomposition technique. An overall estimate of error is defined in order to find the optimal estimation in the 2D IHCP (linear and non-linear). The stability and accuracy of the scheme presented is evaluated by comparison with the Function Specification Method. This comparative study has been carried out using numerically simulated data, and the parameters considered include shape of input, noise level of measurement, size of time step and temperature-dependent thermal properties. A good agreement was found between both methods. Beside this, the slight differences on estimations and number of future temperatures are discussed in this paper.     

Effect of pressure on heat transfer coefficient at the metal/mold interface of A356 aluminum alloy

The aim of this paper is to correlate interfacial heat transfer coefficient (IHTC) to applied external pressure, in which IHTC at the interface between A356 aluminum alloy and metallic mold during the solidification of casting under different pressures were obtained using the inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) method. The method covers the expedient of comparing theoretical and experimental thermal histories. Temperature profiles obtained from thermocouples were used in a finite difference heat flow program to estimate the transient heat transfer coefficients. The new simple formula was presented for correlation between external pressure and heat transfer coefficient. Acceptable agreement with data in literature shows the accuracy of the proposed formula.     

Application of the variational iteration method to nonlinear non‐Fourier conduction heat transfer equation with variable coefficient

In this paper, a variational iteration method (VIM) has been applied to nonlinear non‐Fourier conduction heat transfer equation with variable specific heat coefficient. The concept of the variational iteration method is introduced briefly for applying this method for problem solving. The proposed iterative scheme finds the solution without any discretization, linearization, or restrictive assumptions. The results of VIM as an analytical solution are then compared with those derived from the established numerical solution obtained by the fourth order Runge–Kutta method in order to verify the accuracy of the proposed method. The results reveal that the VIM is very effective and convenient in predicting the solution of such problems, and it is predicted that VIM can find a wide application in new engineering problems. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20362     

A robust and fast algorithm for three-dimensional transient inverse heat conduction problems

Despite numerous studies of inverse heat conduction problems (IHCP) over the last several decades, their solutions still suffer from the mathematical difficulties and the bottleneck of currently available numerical methods for large-scale problems. In this paper, we present a robust and efficient algorithm for the solution of a specific type of three-dimensional (3D) IHCP commonly involved in various engineering applications. The solution method incorporates the Tikhonov regularization for tackling the severe ill-posedness and the conjugate gradient (CG) method for solving the resulting minimization problems. A model function approach is used to significantly reduce the effort needed to find the optimal Tikhonov regularization parameter. The proposed solution method requires no a priori knowledge of the measurement noise and is much more computationally efficient than the traditional Tikhonov regularization-based inversion approaches. Thus, it can be used for the efficient solution of large-scale practical problems. Two simulation case studies of practical significance are presented to validate and assess the performance of the proposed method. Finally, the solution method is successfully applied to the reconstruction of instantaneous heat fluxes from experimentally measured temperature data.     

Training based, moving digital filter method for real time heat flux function estimation

In this paper the neural networks is utilized to estimate the “filter coefficients” needed to estimate heat flux in a particular system. In developing the training phase of the network inspiration is drawn from the Burgraff's exact solution of the IHCP as well as the filter method. Thus, the estimation phase neither requires any temperature field nor the sensitivity coefficients calculations. The neural network used in this work is a 2-layer perceptron. It is shown via classical triangular heat flux test cases that the method can yield very accurate, very efficient as well as stable estimations.     

A SERIAL SOLUTION FOR THE 2-D INVERSE HEAT CONDUCTION PROBLEM FOR ESTIMATING MULTIPLE HEAT FLUX COMPONENTS

A serial algorithm for the inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) has been developed to estimate the individual flux components, one by one, at the unknown boundary, based on the function specification method. The sensitivity coefficient defined in this algorithm brings out the influence of the heat flux components independent of each other. The objective function minimizes the difference in the measured temperature and the contribution of the individual flux component to the thermal field at the sensor location. The serial algorithm developed here could be used with data from both overspecified and underspecified sensors with respect to the number of flux components. The method was tested for delineating independent heat fluxes at the boundary of a two-dimensional solid for both space- and time-varying heat fluxes. Simulated thermal histories obtained from direct solution were used as inputs for the inverse problem for characterizing the new algorithm.

Three types of analyses were done on the results of the IHCP, focused on (1) the convergence of error in estimated temperatures at the different sensor locations, (2) overall error in estimated temperatures for the whole domain, and (3) the total heat energy transferred across the boundary. It is shown that the optimum configuration of independent unknown fluxes is given by the one with minimum energy estimates across the boundary, for both cases.     

Application of the lattice Boltzmann method for solving the energy equation of a 2-D transient conduction-radiation problem

A lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is used to solve the energy equation in a test problem involving thermal radiation and to thus investigate the suitability of scalar diffusion LBM for a new class of problems. The problem chosen is transient conductive and radiative heat transfer in a 2-D rectangular enclosure filled with an optically absorbing, emitting and scattering medium. The energy equation of the problem is solved alternatively with a previously used finite volume method (FVM) and with the LBM, while the radiative transfer equation is solved in both cases using the collapsed dimension method. In a parametric study on the effects of the conduction-radiation parameter, extinction coefficient, scattering albedo, and enclosure aspect ratio, FVM and LBM are compared in each case. It is found that, for given level of accuracy, LBM converges in fewer iterations to the steady-state solution, independent of the influence of radiation. On the other hand, the computational cost per iteration is higher for LBM than for the FVM for a simple grid. For coupled radiation-diffusion, the LBM is faster than the FVM because the radiative transfer computation is more time-consuming than that of diffusion.