Author(s)

Eduardo Divo and Alain Kassab

Abstract

A generalized boundary integral equation (BIE) is formulated for heat conduction problems in anisotropic media with spatially varying thermal conductivity in terms of contour integrals only. A generalized fundamental solution E is derived as the symmetric response to a singular non-symmetric generalized forcing function, D. Both E and Dare functions of the thermal conductivity. Although locally radially symmetric about the source point, E varies within the domain as the source point changes position. Numerical results are provided to validate the new BIE 1. Introduction Many industrial materials exhibit property heterogeneities. For example, functionally gradient materials[l,2] refers to a class of modern materials whose

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