ME 5107: Numerical methods in Thermal Engineering Jul–Nov 2023

Assignment 4
General Instructions
• Solutions due by Oct 4th , 2023.

Hand calculations
1. (10 points) The equation lnx = x2 − 1 has exactly
√ two real roots, α1 = 0.45 and α2 = 1. Determine for which
initial approximation x0 , the iteration xn+1 = 1 + lnxn converges to α1 and α2 .
2. (10 points) For the following equations, determine the smallest positive root correct to three decimal places using
Regula-Falsi and Secant methods.
(a) x4 − x − 10 = 0, take the initial guess interval as (1, 2) for the Regula-Falsi method and x0 = 1, x1 = 2 for
the Secant method.
(b) x − e−x = 0, take the initial guess as (0, 1) for the Regula-Falsi method and x0 = 0, x1 = 1 for the Secant
method.
3. (15 points) The hot combustion gases of a furnace are separated from the ambient air and its surroundings,

Figure 1: A schematic of the furnace indicating several heat transfer processes.

as shown in figure 1, which are at 25o C, by a brick wall 0.15 m thick. The brick has a thermal conductivity
of 1.2 W/m.K and a surface emissivity of 0.8. Under steady-state conditions an inner surface temperature of
352o C is measured. Free convection heat transfer to the air adjoining the surface is characterised by a convection
coefficient of h = 20 W/m2 . K. Calculate the brick outer surface temperature T2 using Newton’s method by
performing 5 iterations with an initial guess of 1000 K. An energy balance on the outer surface of the furnace
yields the following equation:
T1 − T2
k = h(T2 − T∞ ) + ϵσ(T24 − Tsur4
) (1)
L
where σ = 5.67 × 10−8 W/m2 K4 is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
4. (5 points) Consider a function f (x) defined in [−3, 3] as

−1
 x ∈ [−3, 0]
f (x) = x − 1 x ∈ [0, 2]

1 x ∈ [2, 3]

ME 5107: Numerical methods in Thermal Engineering Jul–Nov 2023

Sketch the function f vs x. Using bisection method with the initial interval containing the root as [-3,3], perform
five iterations and report the solution at the end of each iteration. Could Newton method or secant method also
be used to solve for the root of f (x) = 0 and why, or why not?
5. (10 points) Determine the order of convergence of the iterative method

x0 f (xk ) − xk f (x0 )
xk+1 =
f (xk ) − f (x0 )

for finding a simple root of the equation f (x) = 0.

x2 + y 2 = 1.12 (2)
xy = 0.23 (3)

correct to three decimal places. Start with initial guess of x0 = 1 and y0 = 0.23.
ME 5107: Numerical methods in Thermal Engineering Jul–Nov 2023

Programming
1. A simple procedure for measuring surface convection heat transfer coefficient involves coating the surface with a
thin layer of material having a precise melting point temperature. The surface is then heated and, by determining
the time required for melting to occur, the convection coefficient is determined. The following experimental
arrangement, as shown in figure 2, uses this procedure to determine the convection coefficient for gas flow normal
to a surface. Specifically, a long copper rod is encased in a super insulator of very low thermal conductivity, and
a very thin coating is applied to its exposed surface.

Figure 2: A schematic of the experimental setup to measure heat transfer coefficient.

If the rod is initially at 25o C and gas flow with T∞ = 300o C is initiated, and the thin layer of material was
obseved to melt at 53.5o C after 6 minutes and 40 seconds the experiment began, then calculate the heat transfer
coefficient h. The thermal conductivty and diffusivity of copper can be taken as 400 W/m.K and 10−4 m2 /s
respectively, and the surface coating can be assumed to be negligibly thin x ≈ 0. Assuming the long cylindrical
rod as a semi-infinite medium, the following analytical equation can be derived relating the temperature at a
given position and time, T (x, t), with the convection on the surface and the properties of the material,
√ 
hx h2 αt
      
T (x, t) − Ti x x h αt
= erfc √ − exp + 2 erfc √ + (4)
T∞ − Ti 2 αt κ κ 2 αt κ

where Ti is the initial temperature of the material, T∞ is the temperature of the convecting fluid or ambient, x
is the distance measured from the surface of the material, t represents time, h is the convection coefficient, α is
the thermal diffusivity and erfc is the complementary error function defined as follows,

erfc(β) = 1 − erf(β) (5)

where erf is the Gauss error function given as follows,

(a) (10 points) Write a program to find the root of a non-linear equation using bisection method and determine
the heat transfer coefficient h in the above problem. Use initial guess for h as [1, 10000] W/m2 K and a
tolerance of ϵ = 1e − 5. Plot h as a function of the iteration number.
(b) (10 points) Write a program to find the zeros of a non-linear equation using Newton’s method and repeat
calculating h in the above problem. Use an initial guess for h as 5000 W/m2 K and use the same tolerance
as above. Plot h as a function of iteration number.
ME 5107: Numerical methods in Thermal Engineering Jul–Nov 2023

(c) (20 points) It is a good idea to combine bisection method with the Newton’s method to get the best of both
the worlds. In order to do the same limit the number of iterations to 10 in bisection method and use this
value as initial guess (and continue couting iteration number as 11) for the Newton’s. Plot h as a function
of iteration number. Taking the latest calculated value to be exact solution, determine the error after each
iteration. For all the three cases above also plot the rate of convergence (ek+1 /ek for the bisection method,
ek+1 /e2k for the Newton’s method) as a function of the iteration number.

You may calculate the integral arising in evaluating Gauss error function using trapezoidal rule,
Z b
∆x
f (x) dx = (f (x1 ) + 2f (x2 ) + 2f (x3 ) + · · · + 2f (xN −1 ) + f (xN )) (7)
a 2

where N is the number of grid points (taken as 51), xi = a + (i − 1)∆x and ∆x = (b − a)/(N − 1).
2. (30 points) Solve the system of non-linear equations given below with two starting guesses - x = [0.1, 1.2, 2.5]T
and x = [1, 0, 1]T . Do the two solutions converge to the same root? If not, why?

x+y+z =3 (8)
2 2 2
x +y +z =5 (9)
x
e + xy − xz = 1 (10)