Numerical solution of 2-D nonlinear inverse heat conduction problems using finite-element techniques

A general method is presented for solving different classes of nonlinear inverse heat conduction problems (IHCP) for two-dimensional, arbitrarily shaped bodies. It is based on the systematic use of a finite-element library. It is shown that, following this approach, the conjugate gradient method can be easily implemented. The method offers a very wide field of practical applications in inverse thermal analysis, while reducing very significantly the amount of work which remains specific for each particular IHPC. Two numerical experiments illustrate the influence of data errors and the iterative regularization principle.