Handling Discontinuous Boundary Condition by Using the Uniqueness of Heat Flux in the Boundary Element Method of Solving Heat Conduction Problem

Abstract

In solving heat conduction problems using the boundary element method, dis-continuous normal heatflux at boundary is usually encountered. Difficulty may arise when normal heat flux is to be determined at edgesor corners where there is discontinuity because the system of boundary element equations may be ill-conditioned.This paper presents a technique that makes use of the uniqueness of heat flux vector at edges and corners togenerate additional equations that will give a well-conditioned system of boundary element equations. Implementationis described for two-dimensional problems and three-dimensional problems. Examples show that this techniqueis simple and effective.