Abstract

The consecutive-interpolation technique has been introduced as a tool enhanced into traditional finite element procedure to provide higher accurate solution. Furthermore, the gradient fields obtained by the proposed approach, namely consecutive-interpolation finite element method (CFEM), are smooth, instead of being discontinuous across nodes as in FEM. In this paper, the technique is applied to analyze transient heat transfer problems. In order increase time efficiency, a model- reduction technique, namely the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD), is employed. The idea is that a given large-size problem is projected into a small-size one which can be solved faster but still maintain the required accuracy. The optimal POD basis for projection is determined by mathematical operations. With the combination of the two novel techniques, i.e. consecutive-interpolation and proper orthogonal decomposition, the advantages of numerical solution obtained by CFEM are expected to be maintained, while computational time can be significantly saved.