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Using a non‐Fourier heat conduction (NFHC) hypothesis, the governing equations of thermal wave propagation are established. The resulting differential equations are transformed to integral forms using the Galerkin weighted residual method and then are discretized by a finite element technique. The proposed finite element formulation is verified by comparing the results of analytical and numerical solutions to a number of selected 1‐D problems. A couple of 2‐D sample problems are solved and the responses of the system to various input signals are studied. The proposed mixed approach shows superiority to the conventional finite element solution of hyperbolic heat conduction equation, because of the simultaneous determination of heat fluxes and temperature at each nodal point. The mixed approach is also shown to be capable of capturing the sudden temperature jump due to heat pulses.

Previous models of temperature development during the reflow soldering process have typically used commercially available, general purpose, finite difference/finite element modelling tools to create detailed three dimensional representations of both the product and of the reflow furnace. Such models have been shown to achieve a high degree of accuracy in predicting the temperatures a particular PCB design will achieve during the reflow process, but are complex to generate and analysis times are long, even when using modern high performance computer workstations.This paper will report on the development of a simplified model of the process, which uses less complex representations of both the product and the process, together with a simple numerical solver developed specifically for this application, whilst achieving an accuracy comparable with more detailed models. In the simplified model, the product is divided into elements, which are represented using a two‐dimensional mesh of thermal conductances linking thermal masses. The values of these conductances and masses are calculated based on the averaged properties of the PCB material and attached components within the area of each of the elements. The representation of the specific reflow furnace is based on measurements of the temperature and level of thermal convection at each point along the length of the furnace, thereby avoiding the necessity of making detailed measurements of the furnace geometry and air flow velocities. The combination of these two simplification techniques allow the reduction of analysis time for a relatively simple PCB from in the order of an hour on a high performance Unix workstation to under a second on a Pentium class PC running Microsoft Windows.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the dynamic behaviour of a three-fluid heat exchanger subjected to a step change in the temperature and velocity of the fluids at the inlet.

The analysis is carried out using the finite element methodology, adopting the Galerkin’s approach, using implicit method for transient behaviour.

The effect of step changes in the inlet temperature of hot and cold fluids show that an increase in the fluid inlet temperatures leads to increased outlet temperatures of all fluids and decreased hot fluid effectiveness. The exit temperatures of the fluids do not show any response initially for a certain period of time with the step changes. The time to reach steady state is independent of the step change in inlet temperature of the hot and the cold fluids.

The findings of this paper is limited to constant property situations.

The findings will be useful in designing control and regulation systems of heat exchangers used in different industrial processes and operations, such as in nuclear reactors, cryogenic and petrochemical process plants.

The analysis provides a time frame in which the controls and regulation systems work, so that the necessary safety precautions for the people working in the surrounding area can be taken care of.

As per the best knowledge of the authors, none of the papers so far have discussed the effect of the change in the inlet temperature and velocity of both the fluids. Performance parameters such as effectiveness, time to reach steady state, etc. have not been studied so far.

Recent studies have found that the high demand for air-conditioning usage in tropical countries has affected the thermal adaptability of building occupants to hot weather, and increased building energy consumption. This pilot study aims to investigate the effects of transient thermal environment changes on participants' sensory and physiological responses.

The change of thermal perceptions, skin temperatures and core temperatures when exposed to transient thermal environments (cool-warm-cool) from 10 college-aged female participants during a simulated daily commute by foot to class in a tropical university campus were investigated. Subjective measurements were collected in real-time every 5 min.

The main finding suggests that participants were acclimatised to cool air-conditioned indoor environments, despite exhibiting significant mean skin temperature differences (p < 0.05). In addition, exposure to uniform air conditioning from 17 to 18°C for 20 min was thermally unacceptable and reduced concentration during given tasks.

The study focused on thermal comfort conditions in a uniform air-conditioned lecture hall, and the findings may not be applicable for residential and other private building spaces. The distinct temperature difference between indoor and outdoor in the tropical built environment resulted in high dependence on air-conditioning usage. The building occupants' well-being and energy conservation implications of the findings are discussed.

This study provides the platform for discussion on the dynamics of occupants' comfort level and adopting a more variable thermal environment in tropical spatial transient thermal environments among architects and building management system managers. The findings from this study may contribute to the Malaysian Standards for Energy Efficiency and Use of Renewable Energy for Non-Residential Buildings (MS1525).

A knowledge gap in adaptive thermal comfort due to exposure from transient conditions in tropical university campus for energy efficiency revision has been investigated.

The paper presents a finite‐difference scheme to solve the transient conjugated heat transfer problem in a concentric annulus with simultaneously developing hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layers. The annular forced flow is laminar with constant physical properties. Thermal transient is initiated by a step change in the prescribed isothermal temperature of the inner surface of the inside tube wall while the outer surface of the external tube is kept adiabatic. The effects of solid‐fluid conductivity ratio and diffusivity ratio on the thermal behaviour of the flow have been investigated. Numerical results are presented for a fluid of Pr = 0.7 flowing in an annulus of radius ratio 0.5 with various values of inner and outer solid wall thicknesses.

A finite‐difference scheme is developed for solving the boundary layer equations governing the unsteady laminar free convection flow in open ended vertical concentric annuli. The initial condition considered for the creation of the thermal transient corresponds to a step change in temperature at the inner annulus boundary while the outer wall is maintained adiabatic. Numerical results for a fluid of Pr = 0.7 in an annulus of radius ratio 0.5 are presented. The results show the developing velocity and pressure fields with respect to space and time. Also, the important relationship between the annulus height and the induced flow rate is presented for various values of the time parameter starting from quiescence to the final steady state.

Transient conjugated forced convection in the thermal entry region of a thick‐walled annulus, filled with a homogeneous and isotropic porous medium, has been numerically investigated using finite‐difference techniques. Non‐Darcian effects as well as axial conduction of heat have been considered. The flow is assumed to be hydrodynamically fully developed and steady but thermally developing and transient. The thermal transient is initiated by a step change in the prescribed isothermal temperature on the outer surface of the external tube of the annulus while the inner surface of the internal tube is kept adiabatic. A parametric study is carried out to explore the effects of the Darcy number, the inertia term, the Peclet number and the porous medium heat capacity ratio on the transient thermal behavior in a given annulus.

This paper seeks to analyze transient convection‐diffusion by employing the generalized integral transform technique (GITT) combined with an arbitrary transient filtering solution, aimed at enhancing the convergence behavior of the associated eigenfunction expansions. The idea is to consider analytical approximations of the original problem as filtering solutions, defined within specific ranges of the time variable, which act diminishing the importance of the source terms in the original formulation and yielding a filtered problem for which the integral transformation procedure results in faster converging eigenfunction expansions. An analytical local instantaneous filtering is then more closely considered to offer a hybrid numerical‐analytical solution scheme for linear or nonlinear convection‐diffusion problems.

The approach is illustrated for a test‐case related to transient laminar convection within a parallel‐plates channel with axial diffusion effects.

The developing thermal problem is solved for the fully developed flow situation and a step change in inlet temperature. An analysis is performed on the variation of Peclet number, so as to investigate the importance of the axial heat or mass diffusion on convergence rates.

This paper succeeds in analyzing transient convection‐diffusion via GITT, combined with an arbitrary transient filtering solution, aimed at enhancing the convergence behaviour of the associated eigenfunction expansions.

In this article we report on progress in the development of software tools for fluid flow prediction in the polymer processing industry. This involves state‐of‐the‐art numerical techniques and the study of a number of non‐trivial model flow problems, in an effort to investigate realistic transient problems relevant to industrial processes. Here we study particularly the effects of variations in non‐Newtonian and heat transfer properties of the flowing materials in the flows, both throughout the transient development period and at steady‐state.

The purpose of this paper is to study a gas bubble flowing in a micro-channel filled with liquid and to quantify the compressibility effects induced in the bubble by a heat supply at the walls of the channel.

The paper presents a model and its numerical implementation. A hybrid method combining front-tracking techniques and a Heaviside step function is introduced to ensure an accurate satisfaction of the mass and energy conservation laws.

Compressibility effects in the bubble are quantified. Test cases for numerical simulations of two-phase flows involving heat transfer are proposed.

The authors present original test cases in which expansion or compression of a gas bubble flowing in a liquid are induced by heat transfer at the wall.