Investigation of heat transfer coefficient in two‐dimensional transient inverse heat conduction problems using the hybrid inverse scheme

A hybrid scheme of the Laplace transform, finite difference and least‐squares methods in conjunction with a sequential‐in‐time concept, cubic spline and temperature measurements is applied to predict the heat transfer coefficient distribution on a boundary surface in two‐dimensional transient inverse heat conduction problems. In this study, the functional form of the heat transfer coefficient is unknown a priori. The whole spatial domain of the unknown heat transfer coefficient is divided into several analysis sub‐intervals. Later, a series of connected cubic polynomial function in space and a linear function in time can be applied to estimate the unknown surface conditions. Due to the application of the Laplace transform, the unknown heat transfer coefficient can be estimated from a specific time. In order to evidence the accuracy of the present inverse scheme, comparisons among the present estimates, previous results and exact solution are made. The results show that the present inverse scheme not only can reduce the number of the measurement locations but also can increase the accuracy of the estimated results. Good estimation on the heat transfer coefficient can be obtained from the knowledge of the transient temperature recordings even in the case with measurement errors. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.