Applications in Education for a Heat Conduction Database

Applied computer solutions for conductive heat transfer are a critical component in any modern undergraduate heat transfer course. This need has been addressed in many ways through various textbook exercises and software packages. The present work involves a catalog of analytical solutions organized with a numbering system that describes the boundary conditions and initial conditions for each problem. The solutions are preprogrammed and accessible via a free web site called the Exact Analytical Conduction Toolbox, or EXACT. Students can access these solutions for use in homework and project work. In this paper examples of several types of student exercises are given, including a re-creation of the Heisler charts and a two dimensional steady-state example. Additionally, an account is given of classroom use of these tools in a graduate heat transfer course, outlining the education advantages of the EXACT web page. The concept of intrinsic verification is also discussed, focusing on the applicability of this concept to enhancing insight among undergraduate students. General support is also expressed for the need of analytical solutions to heat transfer and diffusion problems in an undergraduate setting.