Consider the thick slab of copper in Example 5.12, which is initially at a uniform temperature of 20 C and is suddenly exposed to a net radiant flux of 3 × 105 W/m2. Use the Finite-Difference Equations/ One-Dimensional/Transient conduction model builder of IHT to obtain the implicit form of the finite-difference equations for the interior nodes. In your analysis, use a space increment of ?x = 37.5 mm with a total of 17 nodes (00-16), and a time increment of ?t = 1.2 s. For the surface node 00, use the finite-difference equation derived in Section 2 of the Example.
(a) Calculate the 00 and 04 nodal temperatures at t = 120 s, that is, T(0, 120 s) and T(0.15 m, 120 s), and compare the results with those given in Comment 1 for the exact solution. Will a time increment of 0.12 s provide more accurate results?
(b) Plot temperature histories for x = 0, 150, and 600 mm, and explain key features of your results.