Reconstruction of heat transfer coefficients using the boundary element method

This paper describes the reconstruction of the heat transfer coefficient (space, Problem I, or time dependent, Problem II) in one-dimensional transient inverse heat conduction problems from surface temperature or average temperature measurements. Since the inverse problem posed does not involve internal temperature measurements, this means that non-destructive testing of materials can be performed. In the formulation, convective boundary conditions relate the boundary temperature to the heat flux. Numerical results obtained using the boundary element method are presented and discussed.