Nonlinear heat transfer by the iterative variational method

The application of an iterative variational method to nonlinear heat transfer problems is presented. A finite element method, a finite difference method, and a method of orthogonal functions are described. As a first example of using these methods the problem of a cooling fin dissipating heat to the environment by radiation is considered. As a second example, the heat transfer through an absorbing medium confined between two parallel plates is analyzed. The rate of convergence in these applications is also discussed.