31/08/2017 Heat Equation Ajit Kumar

Heat Equation

Heat Equation
20 Aug 2017

How the law of conservation of heat transforms into a partial differential equation.

T
c (kT ) = Q + h(T ext T )
t

Law of conservation of Energy

For any isolated environment, rate of change of energy is equal to rate at which
energy is produced inside the region, plus the rate at which energy is flowing in
from environment.

Fouriers Law
Heat flux density, q, is equal to kT .

Heat Equation
T
c (kT ) = Q
t

where

: density mass per unit volume

c : specific heat heat per unit mass per unit temperature

c : heat diffusion coefficient material property

Q : heat source per unit volume

Derivation
Let V be any arbitrary volume, and V be its boundary. Then this law is

rate of change of heat insideV = rate at which heat is produced insideV

+rate at which heat is owing inV throughV .

Heat inside body an infinitesimal volume dV is cT dV . We get the total volume

by integrating this formula:

cT dV

V

Heat conservation law applied to the hypothetical volume V becomes

d
cT dV = Q dV + q (n) dA
dt V
V

V

Interchanging derivatives and integration on the left hand side term, and using
divergence theorem on the second term on the right hand side we get

T
c dV = Q dV div(q)
dV
t
V V V

Using Fourier law on the right hand side term we get

T
c dV = Q dV + div(kT dV
t
V V V

Because this relation must hold for all V , it can be proved that (under
appropriate conditions)

T
c (kT ) = Q
t

https://krajit.github.io/teaching/mat431/pdeexamples/pdeapplication/2017/08/20/HeatEquation/ 1/3
31/08/2017 Heat Equation Ajit Kumar

Examples
For every problem below, try to explain connect the mathematical equations with
background physics in term of heat, temperature, insulation, source, etc. Then
solve them on matlab and study the solutions. Dont move onto new problem till
you have a fair understanding of physics and maths connection for each
problem.

Example 1
Solve the following equation on the rectangular region: ABCD, where AB = CD =
1, and AD = BC = 0.1. We are looking for the temperature function T = T (x, y, t)
which satisfies the equation

T
c div(kT ) = 0,
t

where c = 1 , k = 0.01 . Boundary conditions are like u = 0 on AD and BC.

Other boundaries are insulated (zero Neumann boundary condition). In addition,
u satisfies the initial condition u(x, y, 0) = sin(x).

Example 2
Consider a 1m x 0.1m two dimensional aluminium plate. Specific heat
4
c = 9 10 J/kg K, density 2700 kg/m3 ). You can consider the thickness of
the plate to be 0.5 cm.

The north and south side of the plate are insulated, the east and west sides are
fixed at T = 0 for all time. The top and bottom side of the plate are in exposed to
environment, and plate and environment are regularly exchanging heat at a rate
which is proportional to the difference in plate temperature and environment
temperature.

Derive an equation for T (x, y, t) : temperature at point (x, y) at time t . Then

solve in matlab various choices of environment temperature with initial condition
T (x, y, 0) = sin(x) .

Example 3 : Heating a plate with stove

1
Simulate the situation described in the above figure with Q = 50 exp
(
2
1+x +y
2
)

and appropriate choice of , c, k, h, Texts. Try to give some physical analogy of

the source term Q.

Example 4 : Heat sink problem

coming shortly

Example 5 : A 3d problem

https://krajit.github.io/teaching/mat431/pdeexamples/pdeapplication/2017/08/20/HeatEquation/ 2/3
31/08/2017 Heat Equation Ajit Kumar

coming shortly

https://krajit.github.io/teaching/mat431/pdeexamples/pdeapplication/2017/08/20/HeatEquation/ 3/3