Determination of the heat transfer coefficient by using the ant colony optimization algorithm

Abstract

The paper presents a numerical method of solving the inverse heat conduction problem based on the respectively new tool for combinational optimization named Ant Colony Optimization (ACO). ACO belongs to the group of swarm intelligence algorithms and is inspired by the technique of searching for the shortest way connecting the ant-hill with the source of food. In the proposed approach we use this algorithm for minimizing the proper functional appearing in the procedure of determining the value of heat transfer coefficient in the successive cooling zones. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.