Determination and validation of transient temperature fields within a cylindrical element using the inverse heat conduction method

The article aims to determine and experimentally validate the transient temperature fields in a cylindrical component. The applied in-house algorithm, which is based on the inverse heat conduction method, is solved by means of the finite volume method. On the basis of temperature measurements on the outer surface of the element, the algorithm enables thermomechanical analysis of the element. In order to perform experimental validation of the algorithm, the existing laboratory set-up was modernized. During the experiment, the thick-walled steam manifold was heated up rapidly with dry saturated steam. To reconstruct the unsteady temperature distribution within the element, 19 thermocouples were used and 3 thermocouples were inserted inside the wall of the element. The 3 thermocouple locations correspond with nodal positions in the numerical algorithm, thus allowing validation of the unstable temperature fields. The analysis of the time-step selection and of the influence of the accidental temperature measurement error on the accuracy of the solution have also been analyzed. Moreover, the algorithm has been validated based on the analytical method. The algorithm does not require knowledge of the boundary conditions on the element's barely accessible internal surface a highly valued feature in industrial applications.