A solution to the two-dimensional inverse heat conduction problem

A simple method is developed in this paper to solve two-dimensional nonlinear steady inverse heat conduction problems. The unknown boundary conditions can be numerically obtained by using the iteration and modification method. The effect of measurement errors of the wall temperature on the algorithm is numerically tested. The results prove that this method has the advantages of fast convergence, high precision, and good stability. The method is successfully applied to estimate the convective heat transfer coefficient in the case of a fluid flowing in an electrically heated helically coiled tube. (C) 2000 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 29(2): 113-119, 2000.