A solid is formed from the conical section of a sphere of radius R as shown in the figure.

The
spherical surface at r =R is insulated, while the two conical surfaces at =1 and =2 are held
at temperatures T1 and T2, respectively. The thermal conductivity k of the solid material may be
assumed constant.

Figure. Heated conduction in a solid bounded by two conical surfaces and a spherical surface.
a) Establish an expression for the temperature T () in the solid object at steady state.
b) Find the total rate of heat flow across each of the conical surfaces.
The problem involves pure heat conduction in a solid and therefore the equation of energy
simplifies to .q =0 (where q is the heat flux). On substituting Fourier's law (q =k T), we
get
2
T =0 (because the thermal conductivity k is constant). Since the temperature in the conical
solid is a function of only, the equation in spherical coordinates is
(1)


The above differential equation in dimensionless form is
(2)


where is the dimensionless temperature.
Step. Temperature profile by solving differential equation
The ordinary differential equation may be solved by integrating twice. Thus,
(3)


The integration constants C1 and C2 are determined using the boundary conditions:

(4)



(5)


On substituting the integration constants, the temperature profile is
(6)


b)
Step. Total rate of heat flow across conical surface
Using Fourier's law and differentiating the temperature profile, the heat flux is

(7)


The total rate of heat flow is obtained by integrating the product of the heat flux and the area.
Thus,

(8)


As expected, the total rate of heat flow across each of the conical surfaces is the same (since
there is no generation of heat within the solid).