Applied Advanced Calculus Winter 2024-2025
ENGR 233 Project
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Topic: Calculation of Heat Flux
Released: Monday, March, 31st 2025
Deadline: Monday, April 7th 2025
Important Notes:
1. Projects must be done in groups of 2 or 3 students, who are from the same tutorial
section1.
2. Group must be autonomously made by students themselves. This is the sole
responsibility of students to demonstrate their ability to conduct a teamwork, one of
the main Graduate Attributes of ENGR 233. Neither instructors nor TAs will
facilitate or contribute into formation of group.
3. Each group must submit ONE report with the name of both members to the
instructors. Instructors will determine whether reports should be submitted as a
hardcopy or they can be submitted electronically through Moodle. Please consult with
your professor on how your report should be submitted.
4. Team members must articulate on (1) the total amount of time they work specifically
on this project, (2) total amount of time spent as group interaction, (3) total amount
of time spent by each member individually, and (4) proportion of the work done by
each member. Expectation of Originality Form must be filled and signed by all
members and submitted with the report2.
Background: The heat passing through a given surface can be formulated as a flux integral,
in which the integrand is the temperature gradient multiplied by the thermal conductivity.
Question: Imagine that within the space (𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) , there is a steady temperature field of
𝑇(𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧) = (𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 )𝑧. An engineer wants to divide the space by a set of closed surfaces
and maximize the outgoing heat flux from the inside to the outside of the closed surfaces.
The engineer considers 4 options for this design. The first option is a closed cylindrical shell
with the following equation:
𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 ≤ 1; 𝑧 = 1
𝑆1 : {𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 = 1; 1 < 𝑧 < 4
𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 ≤ 1; 𝑧 = 4
The second option is a spherical unit shell, i.e., 𝑆2 : 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2 = 1. The third option is two
nested spherical shells both centered at (0,0,0), i.e., 𝑆3 : 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2 = 1 as the inner shell,
and 𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 + 𝑧 2 = 4 as the outer shell. The fourth option is a closed conical shell, given by:
𝑥2 + 𝑦2 = 𝑧2; 0 ≤ 𝑧 < 4
𝑆4 : {
𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2 ≤ 16; 𝑧 = 4
All shells have been fabricated with a material with heat conductivity of 1. Which shell should
be chosen? And why? See the domain, temperature field, and surfaces in the next page.
1
This requirement may be relaxed depending on the lecture section you are in. Consult with your professor, whether
the group members must be from the same tutorial section or they can be formed across different tutorial sections.
Please note that group members must be from the same lecture sections.
2
Expectations of Originality Form can be accessed at [Link]
services/[Link]?share=1
1
Applied Advanced Calculus Winter 2024-2025
ENGR 233 Project
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Figure 1. The temperature field of T and the proposed closed surfaces (a) the 4D visualization
of the temperature field (4th dimension being temperature and visualized by color) along with
its sliced visualizations across the x, y, and z axes, (b) four design shells within the sliced
temperature field, along their view from (c) the top of the domain (z = 5), and (d) the side of
the domain (yz plane). Note that in panels (b), (c), and (d), colors become transparent to ease
the visualization of the design surfaces. The task is to find the design surface that maximizes
the outgoing heat flux. Justify why.