Steady Conduction of Heat in Linear and Nonlinear Fully Anisotropic Media by Finite Elements

Using a constrained variational procedure, a finite element approximation is developed which can treat steady heat conduction in anisotropic media whose thermal material properties may be spatially, as well as, temperature dependent. Based on the element approximation, the numerical results of several linear and nonlinear steady conduction problems are presented. These reveal the important effects of thermal material anisotropy.