AME404 Homework #1

Due Wednesday, September 6, 2:00pm

Problem 1
Heat transfer from a body to its surroundings by radiation, based on the Stefan-Boltzmann law, is
described by the differential equation
du
= (u4 T 4 ), (1)
dt
where u(t) is the absolute temperature of the body at time t, T is the absolute temperature of the
surroundings, and is a radiation heat transfer constant of the body. If u is much larger than T , then
the solutions of Eq.(1) are well approximated by solutions of the simpler equation

du
= u4 . (2)
dt

The solution of this approximated equation is given by u = (3t + T03 )1/3 , where T0 is the initial
temperature of the solid. Suppose that a body with initial temperature T0 = 2000 K is surrounded by
a medium with temperature T = 300 K and that = 2.0 1012 K3 /s. Numerically simulate Eq.(1)
using ode45 for 0 t 2000 s and compare the result with the exact solution of Eq.(2) in the same
plot. In a separate plot, plot the relative difference (u1 u2 )/T (u1 is a numerical solution of Eq.1; u2
is the exact solution of Eq.2) as a function of time.

Problem 2
The cylindrical tank with radius R is mounted on the ground with the axis of the cylinder being perpen-
dicular to the ground. The tank has a circular open outlet of diameter d at the bottom, and the fluid is
supplied to the tank with the constant flow rate Qin . The model equation describing the fluid level h(t)
is given by the 1st-order differential equation:
dh 1 p
= {Q in C d A d 2gh},
dt R2
where Cd is a flow constant; g is a gravitational constant; and Ad = d2 /4 is a cross section area of the
outlet. The tank is initially empty h = 0 m at t = 0 s. Choose R = 0.5 m, Cd = 0.8 and g = 9.81 m2 /s.
For numerical simulation of the model, the Matlab built-in function ode45 must be used.

1. With the outlet size d = 2.5 cm, simulate the model for different inflow rates Qin =
{0.001 m3 /s, 0.002 m3 /s, 0.003 m3 /s}. Plot all solutions in one single figure for 0 t 3600 s.

2. The steady state fluid level h can be derived by taking dh/dt = 0 in the equation as given by
 2
1 Qin
h = .
2g C d Ad

For each inflow rate given in Problem 1, obtain the steady state fluid level by simulating the
differential equation, and compare the value against the theoretical value h up to four significant
figures accuracy (e.g., values with four significant figures: 1.234, 0.001234, 1234000, 1.23410n
with n integer). Take the outlet diameter as d = 2.5 cm in all cases. Compute the relative error
ER = |hnum h |/h , where hnum is a steady state solution obtained by the numerical simulation.