Estimation of spatially varying thermal contact resistance from finite element solutions of boundary inverse heat conduction problems split along material interface

Constant, sinusoidal, and triangle functions are selected as spatial functions of thermal contact resistance along material interface to test the method. Constant thermal contact resistance is estimated accurately. Shapes of sinusoidal and triangle functions are fairly captured, locations of their maximums are correctly predicted. Thermal load is suggested to be applied on the boundary of material that has lower thermal conductivity to let the method works properly. Quantifying the uncertainty of estimated thermal contact resistance is demonstrated by adding bias error based on accuracy of sensors to the temperatures specified on the interior points of both materials.