A recursive algorithm for multidimensional inverse heat conduction problems by means of mode reduction

A recursive algorithm is developed to solve the inverse heat conduction pro blem of estimating time-varying strength of a heat source from the knowledg e of temperature readings taken inside the domain. It is based on the Kalma n filtering technique. Although the recursive nature of the Kalman filter a lgorithm allows the possibility of on-line estimation in place of batch for m off-line estimation, the straightforward implementation of this algorithm to multidimensional partial differential equations has not been feasible d ue to the tremendous requirement of computer time and memory. In the presen t investigation we overcome this difficulty by employing the Karbunen-Loeve Galerkin procedure which reduces the governing partial differential equati on to a minimum number of ordinary differential equations. The performance of the present technique of inverse analysis is evaluated by several numeri cal experiments, and is found to be very accurate as well as efficient. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.