Chapter 6

Boundary-Value Problems

Example 6.3-1 _____________________________________________________

Solve for the steady-state temperature in a rectangular slab that is 20 cm wide and 10 cm
high. All edges are kept at 0oC except the right edge, which is at 100 oC. No heat gain or loss
from the top and bottom surface of the slab as shown in Figure 6.3-2. Let ∆x = ∆y = 2.5 cm.

to p s u rfa c e

y
b

b o tto m s u rfa c e

0 a x
Figure 6.3-2 A thin rectangular plate with insulated top and bottom surfaces

Solution

The heat conduction equation for steady state, no heat generation, and k independent of T is
given as

∇ 2T = 0

For two-dimensional heat conduction

∂ 2T ∂ 2T
+ =0
∂x 2 ∂y 2

Let i be the index in the x direction and j be the index in the y direction as shown in Figure
6.3-3, the finite difference form of the two-dimensional heat conduction is

Ti +1,n − 2Ti , j + Ti −1, j Ti , j +1 − 2Ti , j + Ti , j −1

+ =0
∆x 2
∆y 2

For ∆x = ∆y, the temperature at the node (i, j) can be obtained as

Ti +1, j + Ti , j +1 + Ti −1, j + Ti , j −1
Ti,j =
4

13
 y
5

j 3

1
1 2 3 54 6 7 8 9 x
i
Figure 6.3-3 The grid of the rectangular plate with insulated top and bottom surfaces

From the boundary conditions

T(i, j = 1) = 0; T(i, j = 5) = 0

T(i = 1, j) = 0; T(i = 9, j) = 100

The temperature distribution can be solved by the successive-over-relaxation method for

which

T(i, j) = T(i, j) + ω{0.25[T(i, j−1) + T(i, j+1) + T(i−1, j) + T(i+1, j)] − T(i, j)}

Table 6.3-1 lists the MATLAB program to iterate for the temperature distribution using the
initial guesses of 5 for the interior nodes. The iteration is stopped when the maximum
difference between two successive iterations is less than 0.01.

Table 6.3-1 Matlab program to solve for the steady state temperature of a plate -------------
%
% Example 6.3-1
T=ones(9,5)*5;
T(:,1)=0;T(:,5)=0;
T(1,:)=0;T(9,:)=100;
for j=1:5
jb=6-j;
fprintf('%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f\n',T(:,jb))
end
omega=1.3;
for n=1:100
for i=2:8
for j=2:4
e(i,j) = 0.25*(T(i,j-1) + T(i,j+1) + T(i-1,j) + T(i+1,j)) - T(i,j);
T(i,j)=T(i,j)+omega*e(i,j);
end

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end
if max(abs(e))<.01, break, end
end
fprintf('Number of iteration = %g\n',n)
for j=1:5
jb=6-j;
fprintf('%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f%8.2f\n',T(:,jb))
end

>> ex6d3d1
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00
0.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 100.00
0.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 100.00
0.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 100.00
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00
Number of iteration = 11
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00
0.00 0.35 0.91 2.01 4.30 9.15 19.66 43.21 100.00
0.00 0.50 1.29 2.83 6.02 12.65 26.29 53.18 100.00
0.00 0.35 0.91 2.01 4.30 9.15 19.66 43.21 100.00
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 100.00

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Example 6.3-21 _____________________________________________________

A long bar of rectangular cross section, 0.4 m × 0.6 m on a side and having a thermal
conductivity of 1.5 W/m⋅oK, is subjected to the boundary conditions shown on Figure 6.3-4.
Two of the sides are maintained at a uniform temperature of 200oC. One of the sides is
insulated and the remaining side is subjected to a convection process with T∞ = 30oC and h =
40 W/m⋅oK. Using a finite difference with a grid spacing of 0.1 m, determine the temperature
distribution in the bar and the heat transfer rate between the bar and the fluid per unit length
of the bar.

U n ifo r m te m p e r a tu r e
T = 2 0 0 oC x, i
1
2
3 y, j
Th, h 4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
5
I n s u la te d

U n if o r m te m p e r a tu r e
T = 2 0 0 oC
Figure 6.3-4 A thin rectangular plate with insulated top and bottom surfaces

Solution

The two-dimensional heat conduction equation for steady state, no heat generation, and k
independent of T is given as

∂ 2T ∂ 2T
+ =0
∂x 2 ∂y 2

The ordinate is labeled as the x-axis and the abscissa is labeled as the y-axis. The problem is
symmetric with respect to the y-axis. The boundary conditions are then written as

∂T
at x = 0, = 0; at x = 0.3 m, T(0.3 m, y) = 200oC
∂x

∂T ∂T
at y = 0, = 0; at y = 0.4 m, − k = h(T − T∞)
∂y ∂y

Let i be the index in the x direction and j be the index in the y direction as shown in Figure
6.3-4, the finite difference form of the two-dimensional heat conduction is
1
Fundamentals of Heat Transfer by Incropera and DeWitt.

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 Ti +1,n − 2Ti , j + Ti −1, j Ti , j +1 − 2Ti , j + Ti , j −1
+ =0
∆x 2 ∆y 2

For ∆x = ∆y, the temperature at the interior node (i, j) can be obtained as

Ti +1, j + Ti , j +1 + Ti −1, j + Ti , j −1
Ti,j = (6 Eq.)
4

The temperature at the left-bottom node (4,1) is given by

T(4,1) = 0.25[T(5,1) + T(3,1) + T(4,2) + T(4,0)]

∂T
at x = 0, = 0 ⇒ T(5,1) = T(3,1)
∂x

∂T
at y = 0, = 0 ⇒ T(4,0) = T(4,2)
∂y

Therefore T(4,1) = 0.5[T(3,1) + T(4,2)] (Eq. #7)

The temperatures of the nodes on the x-axis can be written with the help of the boundary
∂T
condition at y = 0, =0
∂y

T(3,1) = 0.25[2T(3,2) + T(2,1) + T(4,1)] (Eq. #8)

T(2,1) = 0.25[2T(2,2) + 200 + T(3,1)] (Eq. #9)

The temperatures of the nodes on the y-axis can be written with the help of the boundary
∂T
condition at x = 0, =0
∂x

T(4,2) = 0.25[2T(3,2) + T(4,3) + T(4,1)] (Eq. #10)

T(4,3) = 0.25[2T(3,3) + T(4,4) + T(4,2)] (Eq. #11)

T(4,4) = 0.25[2T(3,4) + T(4,5) + T(4,3)] (Eq. #12)

The temperature at the right-bottom node (4,5) is given by

T(4,5) = 0.25[2T(3,5) + T(4,6) + T(4,4)]

The temperature at the fictitious node (4,6) can be evaluated by using the boundary condition
at y = 0.4 m

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 ∂T k
−k = h(T − T∞) ⇒ [T(4,4) − T(4,6)] = h[T(4,5) − T∞]
∂y 2 ∆x

Solving for T(4,6) we obtain

2∆xh
T(4,6) = T(4,4) − [T(4,5) − T∞]
k

Substituting T(4,6) into the equation for the temperature at the right-bottom node (4,5) yields

2∆xh
4T(4,5) = 2T(3,5) + T(4,4) − [T(4,5) − T∞] + T(4,4)
k

2∆xh 2∆xh
(4 + )T(4,5) = 2T(3,5) + 2T(4,4) + T∞ (Eq. #13)
k k

Similarly, the temperatures of the nodes along y = 0.4 m can be written as

2∆xh 2∆xh
(4 + )T(3,5) = 2T(3,4) + T(4,5) + T(2,5) + T∞ (Eq. #14)
k k

2∆xh 2∆xh
(4 + )T(2,5) = 2T(2,4) + T(3,5) + 200 + T∞ (Eq. #15)
k k

The 15 unknowns can be solved from the 15 equations

i\j 1 2 3 4 5
1 200.0 200.0 200.0 200.0 200.0
2 176.4 172.9 160.7 132.8 67.0
3 159.8 154.5 137.0 103.5 48.7
4 153.9 148.1 129.4 95.6 45.8

200

6 7 .0

4 8 .7

4 5 .8

The heat transfer rate between the fluid per unit length of the bar q’ is given by

q’ = 2[(0.05)(50)(200 − 30) + (0.1)(50)(67 − 30)

+ (0.1)(50)(67 − 30) + (0.05)(50)(45.8 − 30)] = (2)(743) = 1468 W

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