Finite Element and Finite Volume Methods for Heat Transfer and Fluid Dynamics

In Chapter 4 we considered finite element analysis of steady state heat transfer. When external stimuli (e.g., boundary conditions and internal heat generation) are independent of time, heat transfer in a medium may attain a steady state; otherwise, the temperature field changes with time (i.e., unsteady state). The governing equations of unsteady heat transfer are obtained using the principle of balance of energy. When unsteady equations are solved the temperature field reaches a steady state if the external stimuli are independent of time (i.e., the time dependence decays with time).