Development of an educational software in Matlab for transient heat transfer analysis

Abstract

Transient heat transfer processes often involve partial differential equations that normally require rigorous computational tools, and their analytical solutions require severe mathematical methods. This paper presents a user-friendly educational software developed in Matlab for the learning of the transient heat transfer phenomena addressed to undergraduate engineering students. The software is also supported by three case studies that contain the most useful information about theoretical, practical, and pedagogical aspects of a typical heat transfer course. A group of engineering students from Universidad del Atlántico were chosen to solve three case studies with and without the help of the software. A pretest and a posttest were made to evaluate statistically their performance for the two situations using a paired sample analysis, which allowed to determine, at a 95% level of confidence, the existence of a significant effect when implementing the software. The p-value 954 Rafael Emiro Diaz Herazo et al. obtained was lower than 0.05 indicating a positive effect in the use of the software becoming a support for teaching the concepts involved in transient heat transfer processes, promoting critical thinking in students, and meaningful learning.