 Heat flow from a triangular initial temperature with insulated endpoints

On a bar of length $L$, let the initial temperature increase linearly from zero at either endpoint to height $H$ at the midpoint. With thermal diffusivity $D>0$ and insulated Neumann boundary conditions, a Fourier cosine series gives the displayed solution. Its constant term is the initial integral average $H/2$. Integration by parts on the two straight segments gives zero coefficients for odd modes and modes divisible by four; the remaining coefficients are $-4H/[{\pi }^2(2j+1{)}^2]$. Nonconstant modes decay, leaving the uniform temperature $H/2$, consistent with conservation of the total heat. This contrasts with the zero-temperature boundary solution in heat flow from a triangular initial temperature, where heat can leave the bar and the limit is zero. The initial endpoint slopes do not satisfy the insulated condition, so derivatives need not converge to their initial endpoint values as $t\downarrow 0$; the series satisfies the Neumann condition for every $t>0$ and recovers the continuous initial profile.