Inverse Convection Problem for Determining Wall Heat Flux in Annular Duct Flow

An inverse problem for unsteady forced convection in an annular duct is presented. The simulated temperature data taken at the outer wall are used to estimate the time-dependent axially varying surface heat flux distribution at the inner wall of the annular passage. No prior information on the functional form of the unknown wall heat flux is needed in the inverse method. The effects of the functional form of the wall heat flux, the number of the measurement points, and the measurement errors on the accuracy of the estimation are investigated. It is shown that the reconstruction of the timewise and spatial variations of the wall heat flux is satisfactory even if the estimated function is not smooth. [S0022-1481(00)01003-3]