Meshless Local Petrov-Galerkin Method for Three-Dimensional Heat Transfer Analysis

A meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method is proposed to obtain the numerical solution of nonlinear heat transfer problems. The moving least squares scheme is generalized to construct the field variable and its derivatives continuously over the entire domain. The essential boundary conditions are enforced by the direct scheme. By defining a radiation heat transfer coefficient, the nonlinear boundary value problem is solved as a sequence of linear problems each time updating the radiation heat transfer coefficient. The matrix formulation is used to drive the equations for a three dimensional nonlinear coupled radiation heat transfer problem. By using the MPLG method, along with the linearization of the nonlinear radiation problem, a new numerical approach is proposed to find the solution of the coupled heat transfer problem. A numerical study of the dimensionless size parameters for the quadrature and support domains is conducted to find the most appropriate values to ensure convergence of the nodal temperatures to the correct values quickly. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed methodology for the solution of one-, two-, and three-dimensional heat transfer problems involving radiation with different types of boundary conditions. In each case, the results obtained using the MLPG method are compared with those given by the finite element method (FEM) method for validating the results.