SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF LOCATION AND TIMEWISE-VARYING STRENGTH OF A PLANE HEAT-SOURCE

An inverse analysis utilizing the conjugate gradient method of minimiz ation and the adjoint equation is used to estimate unknown location an d timewise-varying strength of a plane heat source placed inside a pla te with insulated boundaries. No prior information is used for the fun ctional form of timewise variation of the source strength. Transient t emperature recordings computed at the boundaries of the region, modifi ed by adding random errors, served as the simulated experimental data for the inverse analysis. In order to examine the accuracy of the esti mation under most strict conditions, timewise variation of the source strength is chosen in the form of rectangular, triangular, and sinusoi dal functions. An implicit finite difference scheme is used to solve t he resulting inverse problem with a CRAY Y-MP supercomputer.