Example 3: Advanced 2-D Conduction with Free Convection

Consider the square shown in Fig. 1.

The left, top and right face are
exposed to air at 22.22C. You
would like to look at the temperature
at nodes 1-12.
The bottom face (nodes 13-16) will
be maintained at a fixed temperature
(cases 1-3). Use the finite difference
method to calculate the temperatures
at nodes 1-12.
The thermal conductivity of the
material is assumed to be constant at
10 W/m C. and the spacing
between nodes is 0.1 m.
Figure 1: Example 3
The free convection coefficients are
as follows:
hright face = 5 W/m2 C
htop face = 10 W/m2 C
hleft face = 7 W/m2 C

Fixed Temperature Cases 1-3

Tbottom,Case 1 = 50 C
Tbottom,Case 2 = 75 C
Tbottom,Case3 = 100 C

Simulation techniques can be used to help with solving the temperature at nodes 1-12 for cases
1-3. A simulation tool has been provided to illustrate how quickly each case can be solved using
simulation. Please read the information page about the simple2D tool before continuing on with
Example 3.

Example 3 Solution:
Now that you are familiar with simple2D enter the conditions outlined in Example 3 and
compare your answers for cases 1-3 with the answers provided below.

Case 1: Set the bottom face of the square to 50C.

40.7962 41.4066 41.4066 40.7962
42.9723 43.6305 43.6305 42.9723
45.9072 46.5126 46.5126 45.9072
50

50

50

50

Temperatures (C) at nodes 1-16 (case 1)

Case 2: Set the bottom face of the square to 75C.
57.5135 58.6732 58.6732 57.5135
61.6479 62.8984 62.8984 61.6479
67.2239 68.3741 68.3741 67.2239
75
75
75
75
Temperatures (C) at nodes 1-16 (case 2)

Case 3: Set the bottom face of the square to 100C.

74.2308 75.9398 75.9398 74.2308
80.3234 82.1663 82.1663 80.3234
88.5407 90.2357 90.2357 88.5407
100
100
100
100
Temperatures (C) at nodes 1-16 (case 3)