A Recursive Estimate of Transitional Boundary Conditions in Heat Conduction Problem

Abstract

A heat conduction problem of massive concrete structures is dealt with in this paper. The analysis for the problem requires boundary conditions such as the heat transfer and heat absorption due to solar radiation on the surface of concrete structures, both of which are difficult to estimate under frequently fluctuating weather conditions. It is shown in this paper that these boundary conditions can be recursively and simultaneously identified from observationusing the extended Kalman filtering technique incorporated with the finite element method. Also, solution accuracy and stability dependent upon prior information are studied.