An iterative boundary integral numerical solution for general steady heat conduction problems

An iterative boundary integral numerical method for solving the steady conduction of heat is developed. The method is general for two- and three-dimensional regions with arbitrary boundary shapes. The development is generalized to include the first, second, and third kind of boundary conditions and also radiative boundary and temperature-space dependent convective coefficient cases. With Kirchhoff's transformation, cases of temperature-dependent thermal conductivity with general boundary conditions are also accounted for by the present method. A variety of problems are analyzed with this method and their solutions are compared to those obtained analytically. A comparison between the present method and the finite difference predictions is also investigated for a case of mixed temperature and convective boundary conditions. Moreover, two-dimensional regions with three kinds of boundary conditions and irregular-shaped boundaries are used to illustrate the versatility of the technique as a computational procedure.