THE SOLUTION OF A NONLINEAR INVERSE PROBLEM IN HEAT-TRANSFER

In this paper the authors investigate the numerical solution of a clas s of nonlinear inverse elliptic equations. The boundary element method , combined with a minimal energy constraint, is used and it is found t hat this technique gives a good stable approximation to the solution. Polynomial and piecewise quadratic approximations for the nonlinear fu nction which occurs in the governing equation have been considered and the effects of small perturbations to the boundary condition have als o been investigated. Examples in which there are known analytical or n umerical solutions are presented and the agreement with the solutions obtained using the present method are excellent.