An inverse diffusion problem with nonlocal boundary conditions

This article considers the inverse problem of identification of a time‐dependent thermal diffusivity together with the temperature in an one‐dimensional heat equation with nonlocal boundary and integral overdetermination conditions when a heat exchange takes place across boundary of the material. The well‐posedness of the problem is studied under some regularity, and consistency conditions on the data of the problem together with the nonnegativity condition on the Fourier coefficients of the initial data and source term. The inverse problem is also studied numerically by using the Crank–Nicolson finite difference scheme combined with predictor‐corrector technique. The numerical examples are presented and discussed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 32: 564–590, 2016     

On an inverse problem of reconstructing a subdiffusion process from nonlocal data

We consider a problem of modeling the thermal diffusion process in a closed metal wire wrapped around a thin sheet of insulation material. The layer of insulation is assumed to be slightly permeable. Therefore, the temperature value from one side affects the diffusion process on the other side. For this reason, the standard heat equation is modified, and a third term with an involution is added. Modeling of this process leads to the consideration of an inverse problem for a one‐dimensional fractional evolution equation with involution and with periodic boundary conditions with respect to a space variable. This equation interpolates heat equation. Such equations are also called nonlocal subdiffusion equations or nonlocal heat equations. The inverse problem consists in the restoration (simultaneously with the solution) of the unknown right‐hand side of the equation, which depends only on the spatial variable. The conditions for overdefinition are initial and final states. Existence and uniqueness results for the given problem are obtained via the method of separation of variables.     

A method and a computer program for determining the thermal diffusivity in a solid slab

The authors describe a method for computing the thermal diffusivity of a solid, based on a computer assisted evaluation of the solution of the transient inverse heat conduction problem.The program computes either the unknown diffusivity or simulates the one-dimensional unsteady heat transfer problem. The user may model the boundary conditions by a choice of different functions.The program provides instruction and information at all stages of input and provides tabular output of results. It may be used by anybody wishing to solve or simulate heat transfer processes.     

Automatic Control via Thermostats of a Hyperbolic Stefan Problem with Memory

A hyperbolic Stefan problem based on the linearized Gurtin—Pipkin heat conduction law is considered. The temperature and free boundary are controlled by a thermostat acting on the boundary. This feedback control is based on temperature measurements performed by real thermal sensors located within the domain containing the two-phase system and/or at its boundary. Three different types of thermostats are analyzed: simple switch, relay switch, and a Preisach hysteresis operator. The resulting models lead to integrodifferential hyperbolic Stefan problems with nonlinear and nonlocal boundary conditions. Existence results are proved in all the cases. Uniqueness is also shown, except in the situation corresponding to the ideal switch. Accepted 27 May 1997     

Uniqueness for an inverse problem for a nonlinear parabolic system with an integral term by one-point Dirichlet data

We consider an inverse problem arising in laser-induced thermotherapy, a minimally invasive method for cancer treatment, in which cancer tissues is destroyed by coagulation. For the dosage planning quantitatively reliable numerical simulation are indispensable. To this end the identification of the thermal growth kinetics of the coagulated zone is of crucial importance. Mathematically, this problem is a nonlinear and nonlocal parabolic inverse heat source problem. We show in this paper that the temperature dependent thermal growth parameter can be identified uniquely from a one-point measurement.     

Inverse determination of thermal conductivity using semi-discretization method

In this work a semi-discretization method is presented for the inverse determination of spatially- and temperature-dependent thermal conductivity in a one-dimensional heat conduction domain without internal temperature measurements. The temperature distribution is approximated as a polynomial function of position using boundary data. The derivatives of temperature in the differential heat conduction equation are taken derivative of the approximated temperature function, and the derivative of thermal conductivity is obtained by finite difference technique. The heat conduction equation is then converted into a system of discretized linear equations. The unknown thermal conductivity is estimated by directly solving the linear equations. The numerical procedures do not require prior information of functional form of thermal conductivity. The close agreement between estimated results and exact solutions of the illustrated examples shows the applicability of the proposed method in estimating spatially- and temperature-dependent thermal conductivity in inverse heat conduction problem.     

Retrieving the time-dependent thermal conductivity of an orthotropic rectangular conductor

The aim of this paper is to determine the thermal properties of an orthotropic planar structure characterized by the thermal conductivity tensor in the coordinate system of the main directions (Oxy) being diagonal. In particular, we consider retrieving the time-dependent thermal conductivity components of an orthotropic rectangular conductor from nonlocal overspecified heat flux conditions. Since only boundary measurements are considered, this inverse formulation belongs to the desirable approach of non-destructive testing of materials. The unique solvability of this inverse coefficient problem is proved based on the Schauder fixed point theorem and the theory of Volterra integral equations of the second kind. Furthermore, the numerical reconstruction based on a nonlinear least-squares minimization is performed using the MATLAB optimization toolbox routine lsqnonlin. Numerical results are presented and discussed in order to illustrate the performance of the inversion for orthotropic parameter identification.     

An inverse coefficient problem for a parabolic equation in the case of nonlocal boundary and overdetermination conditions

In this paper, the inverse problem of finding the time‐dependent coefficient of heat capacity together with the solution of heat equation with nonlocal boundary and overdetermination conditions is considered. The existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence upon the data are studied. Some considerations on the numerical solution for this inverse problem are presented with the examples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of 3D-transient analytical solution based on Green’s function to reduce computational time in inverse heat conduction problems

Inverse problems can be found in many areas of science and engineering and can be applied in different ways. Two examples can be cited: thermal properties estimation or heat flux function estimation in some engineering thermal process. Different techniques for the solution of inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) can be found in literature. However, any inverse or optimization technique has a basic and common characteristic: the need to solve the direct problem solution several times. This characteristic is the cause of the great computational time consumed. In heat conduction problem, the time consumed is, usually, due to the use of numerical solutions of multidimensional models with refined mesh. In this case, if analytical solutions are available the computational time can be reduced drastically. This study presents the development and application of a 3D-transient analytical solution based on Green’s function. The inverse problem is due to the thermal properties estimation of conductors. The method is based on experimental determination of thermal conductivity and diffusivity using partially heated surface method without heat flux transducer. Originally developed to use numerical solution, this technique can, using analytical solution, estimate thermal properties faster and with better accuracy.     

An inverse problem of finding the time‐dependent diffusion coefficient from an integral condition

We consider the inverse problem of determining the time‐dependent diffusivity in one‐dimensional heat equation with periodic boundary conditions and nonlocal over‐specified data. The problem is highly nonlinear and it serves as a mathematical model for the technological process of external guttering applied in cleaning admixtures from silicon chips. First, the well‐posedness conditions for the existence, uniqueness, and continuous dependence upon the data of the classical solution of the problem are established. Then, the problem is discretized using the finite‐difference method and recasts as a nonlinear least‐squares minimization problem with a simple positivity lower bound on the unknown diffusivity. Numerically, this is effectively solved using the lsqnonlin routine from the MATLAB toolbox. In order to investigate the accuracy, stability, and robustness of the numerical method, results for a few test examples are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of heat transfer properties of media with a single-needle probe

Needle probes with a line heater inside are often used in studying the heat transfer properties of loose rocks. The key problem of contact methods of measuring thermal properties of various media consists in finding thermal contact resistance at the probe/medium interface which must be taken into account in determining the thermal diffusivity of the medium. We describe a mathematical model of heating of a long needle probe in the medium under study, taking into account dimensions and thermal properties of the needle source and assuming that thermal contact between the source and the medium is not ideal. Based on the proposed model, we formulate and solve the inverse problem of finding the thermal diffusivity coefficient of the medium and the heat exchange coefficient at the probe/medium interface. The purpose of the article is to create methodology for determining thermal properties of various media in the field.     

Estimation of terrestrial heat flow from temperature measurements in bottom sediments

Under study is the problem of estimation of the terrestrial heat flow from the temperature measurements in the bottom sediments. The problem is divided into the two subproblems: first, we solve the one-dimensional inverse problem of estimating the heat conductivity λ and, second, compute the heat flow value by solving the direct stationary problem using the just-found value of λ. We develop a sweep method for solving the direct problem which differs from the standard. An optimization approach is used for solving the inverse problem, and the explicit formulas are obtained for computing the gradient of the error functional. We analyze the factors that cause errors in estimating the heat flow. We show that the main contribution to the errors is given by the presence of harmonics with the periods exceeding the temperature monitoring time interval. We show that if the parameters of the harmonics are known then we can calculate some corrections for the obtained value of the heat flow. The results were applied to the data of temperature measurements carried out at the bottom of Lake Teletskoye from June of 2008 to September of 2010. For finding the long-period harmonics, we use the meteorological data about the bottom water temperature from 1968 to 2011. This allowed us to estimate the heat flow through the bottom of Lake Teletskoye as well as the thermal diffusivity in the upper layer of the sediments.     

An inverse coefficient problem for the heat equation in the case of nonlocal boundary conditions

This paper investigates the inverse problem of finding a time-dependent coefficient in a heat equation with nonlocal boundary and integral overdetermination conditions. Under some regularity and consistency conditions on the input data, the existence, uniqueness and continuous dependence upon the data of the solution are shown by using the generalized Fourier method.     

On the determination of unknown source in the heat equation with nonlocal boundary conditions

We consider the inverse problem for the heat equation with unknown source. The existence and uniqueness conditions are established in the case where the boundary and overdetermination conditions are nonlocal conditions of general form.Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 47, No. 10, pp. 1438–1441, October, 1995.     

A Mixed Analytical/Numerical Method for Velocity and Heat Transfer of Laminar Power-Law Fluids

This paper presents a relatively simple numerical method to investigate the flow and heat transfer of laminar power-law fluids over a semi-infinite plate in the presence of viscous dissipation and anisotropy radiation. On one hand, unlike most classical works, the effects of power-law viscosity on velocity and temperature fields are taken into account when both the dynamic viscosity and the thermal diffusivity vary as a power-law function. On the other hand, boundary layer equations are derived by Taylor expansion, and a mixed analytical/numerical method (a pseudo-similarity method) is proposed to effectively solve the boundary layer equations. This method has been justified by comparing its results with those of the original governing equations obtained by a finite element method. These results agree very well especially when the Reynolds number is large. We also observe that the robustness and accuracy of the algorithm are better when thermal boundary layer is thinner than velocity boundary layer.     

The effect of variable viscosity on MHD viscoelastic fluid flow and heat transfer over a stretching sheet

An analysis has been carried out to study the momentum and heat transfer characteristics in an incompressible electrically conducting non-Newtonian boundary layer flow of a viscoelastic fluid over a stretching sheet. The partial differential equations governing the flow and heat transfer characteristics are converted into highly non-linear coupled ordinary differential equations by similarity transformations. The effect of variable fluid viscosity, Magnetic parameter, Prandtl number, variable thermal conductivity, heat source/sink parameter and thermal radiation parameter are analyzed for velocity, temperature fields, and wall temperature gradient. The resultant coupled highly non-linear ordinary differential equations are solved numerically by employing a shooting technique with fourth order Runge–Kutta integration scheme. The fluid viscosity and thermal conductivity, respectively, assumed to vary as an inverse and linear function of temperature. The analysis reveals that the wall temperature profile decreases significantly due to increase in magnetic field parameter. Further, it is noticed that the skin friction of the sheet decreases due to increase in the Magnetic parameter of the flow characteristics.     

A thermo-electrical problem with a nonlocal radiation boundary condition

A coupled problem arising in induction heating furnaces is studied. The thermal problem, which involves a change of phase, has a nonlocal radiation boundary condition. Convective heat transfer in the liquid is also included which makes necessary to compute the liquid motion. For the space discretization, we propose finite element methods which are combined with characteristics methods in the thermal and flow models to handle the convective terms. In the electromagnetic model they are coupled with boundary element methods (BEM/FEM). An iterative algorithm is introduced for the whole coupled model and numerical results for an industrial induction furnace are presented.     

Determination of a time-dependent heat source under nonlocal boundary and integral overdetermination conditions

This paper investigates the inverse problem of finding a time-dependent heat source in a parabolic equation with nonlocal boundary and integral overdetermination conditions. Under some natural regularity and consistency conditions on the input data the existence, uniqueness and continuously dependence upon the data of the solution are shown by using the generalized Fourier method. Numerical tests using the Crank-Nicolson finite difference scheme combined with an iterative method are presented and discussed.     

Stability estimate for an inverse boundary coefficient problem in thermal imaging

We establish a stability estimate for an inverse boundary coefficient problem in thermal imaging. The inverse problem under consideration consists in the determination of a boundary coefficient appearing in a boundary value problem for the heat equation with Robin boundary condition (we note here that the initial condition is assumed to be a priori unknown). Our stability estimate is of logarithmic type and it is essentially based on a logarithmic estimate for a Cauchy problem for the Laplace equation.     

On dynamic effects in an elastic half-space under “thermal impact” : PMM vol. 38, n 6, 1974, pp. 1105–1113

The general uncoupled dynamical problem of thermoelasticity for a half-space under the condition of a thermal impact with a finite rate of change in temperature on its boundary is solved by the method of principal (fundamental) functions within the framework of a generalized theory of heat conduction.An elastic steel half-space is analyzed as an illustration. The problem on thermal stresses originating in an elastic half-space due to thermal impact produced by a jump change in temperature on the boundary was first analyzed in [1]. Since the temperature change on the boundary occurs at a finite rate, it is generally impossible to realize the thermal impact considered in [1] physically. The dynamic effects in an elastic half-space under a thermal impact with finite rate of change in the temperature on the boundary have been studied in [2]. For high rates of change of the heat flux we obtain a generalized wave equation of heat conduction [3] taking into account the finite velocity of heat propagation. Hence, the solution of the ordinary parabolic heat conduction equation used in [1, 2] does not correspond to the true temperature field. The problems of [1, 2] have been examined in [4, 5], respectively, within the framework of a generalized theory of heat conduction.