Thermal Parameter Estimating Program (PROP1D)

Capability:  Program PROP1D Version 7.0 estimates thermal properties utilizing temperature and heat flux measurements in solids.  One dimensional plane, cylindrical, and spherical geometries can be treated with as many as ten layers of different materials.  Thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity, thermal diffusivity and thermal contact conductance can be determined.  The program can also be used to estimate temperature-dependent thermal properties, provided appropriate temperature and heat flux measurements are available.  Up to 16 measured temperature and/or heat flux histories can be used at any location in the body with as many as 6000 uniformly-spaced discrete measurement times.  The convenient Windows interface provides tabular and graphical output as well as on line help.  The methods used in the program are applied from the book, Parameter Estimation in Engineering and Science, by J.V. Beck and K.J. Arnold.  For more information on this book, press here.

Hardware: Windows 95, 98 or NT.

Cost: $2,495 including CD ROM, user’s manual in booklet form and 4 hours of free support via phone and/or e-mail.  There is a reduced rate of $1,495 available to qualifying academic institutions.

PROP1D demonstration software:

A free demonstration copy of PROP1D is available for downloading.  This demonstration version of the software comes with four sample experimental measurement files and comes complete with all features fully functional so that the user can explore each of the program capabilities.  The only restriction placed on the demonstration version of the program is that it will only analyze the four sample experimental data files provided with the demonstration package.  In order to analyze other experiments, the full version of the program must be purchased.

Instructions for downloading free PROP1D demonstration software:

Step 1.  Press the appropriate download button on the software web page for the PROP1D download. (or press here)  This will begin the download of "propdemo.exe" which is a self-expanding executable zip file.

Step 2.  Unzip "propdemo.exe" by double-clicking on it in the Windows Explorer window or desktop, as appropriate.  This will place three files in the directory you designate.  These files are:

Step 3.  Run "setup.exe" (by double-clicking on it) and the installation program will walk you through the rest of the procedure.  PROP1D will be automatically placed on your start menu with the rest of your normal operating software.  To run the programs, simply access them via that means or make a shortcut on your desktop if you prefer.  If you have trouble with any of the installation process, please contact Bob McMasters at mcmaste7@msu.edu or 517-980-0276.

If the user decides to remove PROP1D from the computer, subsequent to the use of the demonstration program, PROP1D can be removed simply by deleting the PROP1D folder from the location originally specified by the user during installation.

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