A simplex search method for a conductive-convective fin with variable conductivity

An inverse problem is solved for simultaneously estimating the convection-conduction parameter and the variable thermal conductivity parameter in a conductive-convective fin with temperature dependent thermal conductivity. Initially, the temperature field is obtained from a direct method using an analytical approach based on decomposition scheme and then using a simplex search minimization algorithm an inverse problem is solved for estimating the unknowns. The objective function to be minimized is represented by the sum of square of the error between the measured temperature field and an initially guessed value which is updated in an iterative manner. The estimation accuracy is studied lot the effect of measurement errors, initial guess and number of measurement points. It is observed that although very good estimation accuracy is possible with more number of measurement points, reasonably well estimation is obtained even with fewer number of measurement points without measurement error. Subject to selection of a proper initial guess, it is seen that the number of iterations could be significantly reduced. The relative sensitiveness of the estimated parameters is studied and is observed from the present work that the estimated convection-conduction parameter contributes more to the temperature distribution than the variable conductivity parameter. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.