Heat Transfer Homework Help

Theory & Mathematical formulation

The finite difference method attempts to solve a differential equation by estimating the
differential terms with algebraic expressions. The method works best for simple geometries
which can be broken into rectangles (in rectangular coordinates), cylinders (in cylindrical
coordinates), or spheres (in spherical coordinates). Otherwise, the finite element method should
be used. If the finite difference method can be used, it is considerably easier to implement than
the finite element method, at the cost of some accuracy.
The finite difference method involves:
Establish nodal networks
Derive finite difference approximations for the governing equation at both interior and
exterior nodal points
Develop a system of simultaneous algebraic nodal equations
Solve the system of equations using numerical schemes
The Nodal Networks
The basic idea is to subdivide the area of interest into sub-volumes with the distance between
adjacent nodes by Dx and Dy as shown. If the distance between points is small enough, the
differential equation can be approximated locally by a set of finite difference equations.
Each node now represents a small region where the nodal temperature is a measure of the
average temperature of the region.











Numbering Scheme for node

The x-y plane of the region is divided into a rectangular mesh of nodal points spaced x
and y.
Numbering scheme: double subscript
notation(m, n) where m=0, 1, 2, . . . , M is the node count in the x-direction and n=0, 1,
2, . . . ,N is the node count in the y-direction.
The coordinates of the node (m, n) are simply x=mx and y=ny, and the temperature at the
node (m, n) is denoted by T
m,n
.
A total of (M+1)(N+1) nodes.
Finite Difference Approximation




2
P
2
1
Heat Diffusion Equation: ,
k
where = is the thermal diffusivity
C
No generation and steady state: q=0 and 0, 0
t
First, approximated the first order differentiation
at intermediate
q T
T
k t
V
T

+ =

= =

1, ,
( 1/ 2, ) ( 1/ 2, )
, 1,
( 1/ 2, ) ( 1/ 2, )
points (m+1/2,n) & (m-1/2,n)
T
x
T
x
m n m n
m n m n
m n m n
m n m n
T T T
x x
T T T
x x
+
+ +

=


=























A System of Algebraic Equations

The nodal equations derived previously are valid for all interior points satisfying the steady
state, no generation heat equation. For each node, there is one such equation.
2
1/ 2, 1/ 2,
2
,
2
1, 1, ,
2 2
,
2
Next, approximate the second order differentiation at m,n
/ /
2
( )
Similarly, the approximation can be applied to
the other dimension y
m n m n
m n
m n m n m n
m n
T x T x
T
x x
T T T T
x x
T
+
+

, 1 , 1 ,
2 2
,
2
( )
m n m n m n
m n
T T T
y y
+
+

2 2
1, 1, , , 1 , 1 ,
2 2 2 2
,
2
2 2
( ) ( )
To model the steady state, no generation heat equation: 0
This approximation can be simplified by specify x= y
and the nodal
m n m n m n m n m n m n
m n
T T T T T T T T
x y x y
T
+ +
+ + | |
+ +
|

\ .
=

1, 1, , 1 , 1 ,
equation can be obtained as
4 0
This equation approximates the nodal temperature distribution based on
the heat equation. This approximation is improved when the distance
m n m n m n m n m n
T T T T T
+ +
+ + + =
between the adjacent nodal points is decreased:
Since lim( 0) , lim( 0)
T T T T
x y
x x y y

= =


For example: for nodal point m=3, n=4, the equation is
T
2,4
+ T
4,4
+ T
3,3
+ T
3,5
- 4T
3,4
=0
T
3,4
=(1/4)(T
2,4
+ T
4,4
+ T
3,3
+ T
3,5
)
Nodal relation table for exterior nodes (boundary conditions) can be found in standard heat
transfer textbooks.
Derive one equation for each nodal point (including both interior and exterior points) in the
system of interest. The result is a system of N algebraic equations for a total of N nodal
points.

Matrix Form




A total of N algebraic equations for the N nodal points and the system can be expressed as a
matrix formulation: [A][T]=[C]




Matrix form: [A][T]=[C].
From linear algebra: [A]
-1
[A][T]=[A]
-1
[C], [T]=[A]
-1
[C]
where [A]
-1
is the inverse of matrix [A]. [T] is the solution vector.
Matrix inversion requires cumbersome numerical computations and is not efficient if the
order of the matrix is high (>10)


11 1 12 2 1 1
21 1 22 2 2 2
1 1 2 2
The system of equations:
N N
N N
N N NN N N
a T a T a T C
a T a T a T C
a T a T a T C
+ + + =
+ + + =
+ + + =

11 12 1 1 1
21 22 2 2 2
1 2
= , ,
N
N
N N NN N N
a a a T C
a a a T C
where A T C
a a a T C



= =

Node Types
There are 40 nodes defined in the thermal problem.
Internal node, convective boundary, boundary nodes


Temperature calculation at nodes and variation using MATLAB


2D temperature distribution using Analytical solution (Using MATLAB)





Fig: Heat flow
Temperature distribution of top side


Validity of Simulation
As we know for 2D Heat transfer (Steady state condition) at interior node

,+1
+
,1
+
+1,
+
1,
4
,
+

(. ) = 0
Here k = 45 W/m.K and qdot = 10000 W/m
3








Now for interior node 5 6 and 7 (all three side are insulated) here = = 0.3
1
2
5
3
4
6 7
8

4
+
6
+373 4
5
+
10000
45
(0.3 0.3) = 0

7
+
3
4
6
+
10000
45
(0.3 0.3) = 0

4
+
6
4
7
+
10000
45
(0.3 0.3) = 0
For node 4 (node at internal corner with convection)
2(
5
+
2
) +(
7
+
3
) +
10000
45
0.3 0.3
1
2
+2
30 0.3
45
298 2 3 +
30 0.3
45

4
= 0
For convective surface boundary node 3
2
4
+
3
+0 +2
30 0.3
45
298 2 2 +
30 0.3
45

3
= 0
For node 2 (node at external corner with convection)

4
+
1
+2
30 0.3
45
298 2 1 +
30 0.3
45

2
= 0
For node 1 and 8 (node at external surface boundary without convection)

5
+
2
4
1
+373 = 0

1
4
8
+373 = 0
For all node we can write in the form as below
0 + 0 + 0 +
4
4
5
+
6
+ 0 + 0 = 393
0 + 0 +
3
+ 0 + 0 4
6
+
7
+ 0 = 20
0 + 0 + 0 +
4
+ 0 +
6
4
7
+ 0 = 20
0 + 2
2
+
3
6.4
4
+2
5
+ 0 +
7
+0 = 129.2
0 + 0 3.3
3
+2
4
+ 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 119.2

1
2.4
2
+ 0 +
4
+ 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 119.2
4
1
+
2
+ 0 + 0 +
5
+ 0 + 0 + 0 = 373

1
+ 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 4
8
= 373

In matrix notation it can be shown as
[] =

0 00 14 10 0
0 01 00 41 0
0 00 10 14 0
0 21 6.42 00 0
0 03.3 20 00 0
1 2.40 10 00 0
4 10 01 00 0
1 00 00 00 4

and[] =

393
20
20
129.2
119.2
119.2
373
373

Using a standard inversion routine , it is simple matter to find the inverse of [] ,[]
1
, giving
[] = []
1
[]
Where
[] =

999.8
345.32
244.49
56.28
940.6
353
60
1492

()

Heat flux rate (q/L) =
30
0.3
2
(100 25) + 0.3 (244.49 25) +
0.3
2
(345.32 25) +
10000 0.3 0.3
45
+
(100 25) 0.3 0.4 45
0.4

= 1678.97 /

Temperature versus dx
As we can see how the temperature varies with dx and thus we have calculated already the heat
flow rate per unit length above using numerical method. For steady state conditions the
-500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
0 2 4 6 8 10
T
(
K
)
dX/10
T(K)

requirement dictates the rate of energy inflow be balanced by the rate of outflow for a control
surface about those nodal regions whose temperatures have been evaluated.
Although the computed temperature satisfies the finite difference equations, they do not provide
us with the exact temperature field. Remember that equations are approximations whose
accuracy may be improved by reducing the grid size (Increasing the number of nodal points).
Conclusion
We have used finite difference method for modeling & simulation of 2D heat transfer. In the
MATLAB we proposed a program which helps us to find out the temperature node at any
arbitrary node or defined node to the problem. We have plot some plots describing the
temperature distribution at top side, 2D surface and also the heat flux flow on the surface in
above diagram.
The theory depicts what is Finite difference method and how it is used for the simulation and
how you can find the values and temperature at nodes and force vector of matrix.