A mathematical model and numerical solution of interface problems for steady state heat conduction (Q2314692)

Summary: We study interface (or transmission) problems arising in the steady state heat conduction for layered medium. These problems are related to the elliptic equation of the form \(Au:= -\nabla(k(x)\nabla u(x)) = F(x), x\in\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^2\), with discontinuous coefficient \(k = k(x)\). We analyse two types of jump (or contact) conditions across the interfaces \(\Gamma^-_\delta =\Omega_1\cap\Omega_\delta\) and \(\Gamma^+_\delta =\Omega_\delta\cap\Omega_2\) of the layered medium \(\Omega:=\Omega_1\cup\Omega_\delta\cup\Omega_2 \). An asymptotic analysis of the interface problem is derived for the case when the thickness \((2\delta>0 )\) of the layer (isolation) \( \Omega_\delta\) tends to zero. For each case, the local truncation errors of the used conservative finite difference scheme are estimated on the nonuniform grid. A fast direct solver has been applied for the interface problems with piecewise constant but discontinuous coefficient \(k = k(x)\). The presented numerical results illustrate high accuracy and show applicability of the given approach.