Transfer Functions for Efficient Calculation of Multidimensional Transient Heat Transfer

Finite difference or finite element methods reduce transient multidimensional heat transfer problems into a set of first-order differential equations when thermal physical properties are time invariant and the heat transfer processes are linear. This paper presents a method for determining the exact solution to a set of first-order differential equations when the inputs are modeled by a continuous, piecewise linear curve. For long-time solutions, the method presented is more efficient than Euler, Crank-Nicolson, or other classical techniques.