Heat transfer analysis of composite slabs using meshless element free Galerkin method

This paper deals with three dimensional heat transfer analysis of composite slabs using meshless element free Galerkin method. The element free Galerkin method (EFG) method utilizes moving least square (MLS) approximants to approximate the unknown function of temperature T(x). These approximants are constructed by using a weight function, a basis function and a set of coefficients that depends on position. Penalty and Lagrange multiplier techniques have been used to enforce the essential boundary conditions. MATLAB codes have been developed to obtain the EFG results. Two new basis functions namely trigonometric and polynomial have been proposed. A comparison has been made among the results obtained using existing (linear) and proposed (trigonometric and polynomial) basis functions for three dimensional heat transfer in composite slabs. The effect of penalty parameter on EFG results has also been discussed. The results obtained by EFG method are compared with those obtained by finite element method.