Experimental validation of a frequency domain BEM model to study 2D and 3D heat transfer by conduction

This article presents an experimental validation of 2D and 2.5D boundary element method (BEM) solutions for transient heat conduction in systems containing heterogeneities. The problem is formulated in the frequency domain. The responses in the time domain are obtained by means of an inverse Fourier transform. Complex frequencies with a small imaginary part are introduced to cope with aliasing. Their effect is taken into account by rescaling the results in the time domain.For validation purposes, the solutions provided by the proposed BEM formulation were first verified against analytical solutions and then compared with experimental results. In the laboratory tests a steel inclusion was embedded in a confined host medium and unsteady temperatures were applied to its boundary. Two host media were tested: molded expanded polystyrene and medium-density fiberboard. The systems were subjected to plane and point heat sources. The thermal properties of these materials have been previously defined experimentally. The results show that the BEM solutions agree well with the experimental results.