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Heat and Mass Transfer

Student Projects

Transient Conduction at the Interface between Two Materials

Finger touching sample of Space Shuttle protective tile

In this project we model a finger touching a hot material as a one-dimensional, transient conduction problem. We test flesh touching soapstone, flesh touching cast iron and flesh touching Space Shuttle tile (shown above) and compare and contrast the resulting behavior.  We implement a finite-volume numerical scheme for this transient conduction problem.  That algorithm will be just like that employed in the HTTonedt module, but we tailor it to include a junction between two dissimilar materials.   The interface between the flesh and the material being touched provides an interesting numerical challenge.  So do the significantly different thermal properties of the three hot materials.  Detailed instructions are included.

(Write-up)

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