Multi-region heat conduction problems by boundary element method

Abstract

The authors present a boundary element method for solving two-dimensional steady state heat conduction problems in multi-regions. Each region with different heat transfer properties is considered as piecewise homogeneous in a heterogeneous system. The technique used here is similar to a sweeping treatment of the finite element method for multi-region problems. The system matrix representing the whole domain is generated in a single step without considering compatibility conditions explicitly at interfaces. The resulting linear system of equations is solved by the singular value decomposition method. Multi-regions with square and circular domains are considered for the presentation of the numerical results.