Abstract
An numerical method to estimate thermal diffusivity has been developed for one-dimensional unsteady heat conduction problem, when the temperatures are know at two positions in a semi-infinite body. Using the closed form solution which has already derived an explicit solution for the inverse problem for one-dimensional transient heat conduction using Laplace transform technique, we first estimate the surface temperature. The thermal diffusivity can be estimated by using the estimated surface temperature and measured temperatures, which include some uncertainties. The estimated surface heat flux and thermal diffusivity are found to be in good agreement with those of the experimented conditions. This method will be extended to the simultaneous measurement of thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity.