Generalized boundary integral equation for transient heat conduction in heterogeneous media

Using the generalized boundary integral method developed by the authors for steady heat conduction in heterogeneous media as a point of departure, a generalized dual reciprocity boundary element method (BEM) is presented for the solution of transient heat conduction problems in heterogeneous media. In the process, new interpolating radial basis functions are defined. This method retains the boundary-only discretization feature of the BEM. Two- and three-dimensional numerical examples provide validation of the proposed method. Excellent agreement is found between analytical and BEM-computed results.