Similarity between unsteady-state conduction in a planar slab for short times and steady-state conduction in a uniform, straight fin

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The principal goal of this study is two-fold. First, to elucidate an analogy between unsteady-state conduction in a planar slab for short times and steady-state conduction in a straight fin of uniform cross section. Second, to present approximate analytical solutions of the transient heat conduction equation for short times in a plane having a uniform initial temperature and subjected to a uniform surface temperature (Dirichlet boundary condition). Use was made of a hybrid computational method, theTransversal Method Of Lines (TMOL) to bypass the classical solution techniques for partial differential equations and exploit the physical analogy with the steady-state, heat conduction in a straight fin. The resulting quasi-steady, approximate analytical solution is very easy to employ and is suitable for obtaining quality short-time temperature distributions in the slab.