276 Chapter 5
Again, if we consider the steady-state or time-invariant version of this equation, we get
∂
2
∂x
2
u(x, y) +
∂
2
∂y
2
u(x, y) = 0
Thus, we see that in the steady-state situation, both the diffusion and the wave partial
differential equation reduce to the familiar Laplace equation.
A typical example steady-state problem is as follows. We seek the steady-state temperature
distribution u(x,y) in a thin plate over the rectangular domain D ={(x,y) |0 <x<1,
0 <y<1}. The lateral surfaces of the plate are insulated so that no heat escapes from the
lateral surfaces. The sides y = 0 and y = 1 are insulated, the side x = 1 has a fixed temperature
of zero, and the side x = 0 has a temperature distribution f(y) given as follows.
The Laplace partial differential equation that describes the steady-state temperature in the
plate is
∂
2
∂x
2
u(x, y) +
∂
2
∂y
2
u(x, y) = 0
Because the sides y = 0 and y = 1 are insulated, the side x = 0 is at a fixed temperature zero,
and the side x = 0 has a given temperature distribution, the boundary conditions on the
problem are
u(0,y)= f(y) and u(1,y)= 0
and
u
y
(x, 0) = 0 and u
y
(x, 1) = 0
We develop the solution for this problem in Section 5.3 later.
5.2 Laplace Equation in the Rectangular Coordinate System
We now focus on the solution to the Laplace equation over the finite two-dimensional domain
D ={(x,y) |0 <x<a,0 <y<b} in rectangular coordinates. From the preceding section,
the relevant partial differential equation can be rewritten to read
∂
2
∂x
2
u(x, y) =−
∂
2
∂y
2
u(x, y)
Based on our success in solving the diffusion equation and the wave equation in Chapters 3
and 4, we use the method of separation of variables to solve this equation. We set
u(x, y) = X(x)Y(y)