Thermal Contact Conductance Estimation on Irregular Interfaces Using the Reciprocity Functional Method

The Reciprocity Functional method, associated to the Classic Integral Transform Technique, has been successfully applied, obtaining analytical solutions for the inverse heat transfer problem that seeks to estimate the thermal contact conductance (TCC) distribution on the interface of a body composed of two materials. Yet, the theoretical development upon which this approach is based is not limited to the need of this interface to have a regular format. This work proposes to extend the method, thus obtaining an analytical development for the estimation of the TCC distribution on interfaces which are not necessarily regular. Several test problems were solved using the techniques described in this work, leading to very good results, with low CPU time usage by the computational implementation. The stability of the method was also verified, via a Monte Carlo analysis considering uncertainties in geometrical and thermophysical properties. The method presented good estimates even when noises were present in the measured temperatures, thermal conductivities, and geometrical dimensions.