Dual reciprocity BEM-BDIM technique for conjugate heat transfer computations

Numerical simulation of conjugate heat transfer problems by methods based o n the boundary element method (BEM) promises great flexibility of the compu tational model. A combination of dual reciprocity BEM for computation of he al conduction in solid regions with boundary domain integral method for com putation of heat transfer and fluid flow in fluid regions represents a prom ising way in numerical simulation of conjugate heat transfer. It combines b oundary-only discretisation of solid parts and boundary and internal discre tisation of fluid regions. In order to efficiently apply iterative solvers, the subdomain technique is used both in solid and in fluid parts of the co mputational domain. The results are compared with those of a thermal shock problem achieved by a pure boundary domain integral formulation and is veri fied on the test case of conjugate natural convection in a cavity with cond ucting side wall. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.