Firefly algorithm combined with Newton method to identify boundary conditions for transient heat conduction problems

Abstract

ABSTRACTFirefly algorithm combined with Newton method (FA–NM) is proposed for identifying time-dependent boundary conditions of two-dimensional transient heat conduction problems with a heat source. The dual reciprocity boundary element method (DRBEM) is applied to solve the direct problem. The improved firefly algorithm has not only a good global search ability, but also a good local search ability. FA–NM can acquire accurate results with much less iterations. Furthermore, different measurement points and noises are also considered. A small number of measurement points cannot obtain precise results. With the increase in the measurement points to a certain value, the results are more accurate. When the measurement noises are not very large, FA–NM can get desirable results. With the decrease in measurement noises, the results are in better agreement with the exact solutions. Numerical results also indicate that the more front the time substep is, the more accurate the estimated boundary conditions are.