First‐order design sensitivities for transient conduction problems by an adjoint method

An adjoint approach is presented for the design sensitivity analysis of transient conduction problems. Variations of a general design functional are expressed in explicit form with respect to all design quantities, i.e. material properties, shape, applied thermal loads including convection, and initial conditions. The methodology incorporates the mutual energy between the real and adjoint thermal problems and a geometric mapping to describe shape variations. Finite element implementation of the method is discussed and an example is provided. Some potential difficulties that might be encountered when using the adjoint method with the finite element method are addressed. These involve the application of impulse loadings and Dirac temperature fields in the adjoint loadings.