The effect of turbulence-radiation interaction on radiative entropy generation and heat transfer

The analysis under the second law of thermodynamics is the gateway for optimisation in thermal equipments and systems. Through entropy minimisation techniques it is possible to increase the efficiency and overall performance of all kinds of thermal systems. Radiation, being the dominant mechanism of heat transfer in high-temperature systems, plays a determinant role in entropy generation within such equipments. Turbulence is also known to be a major player in the phenomenon of entropy generation. Therefore, turbulence-radiation interaction is expected to have a determinant effect on entropy generation. However, this is a subject that has not been dealt with so far, at least to the extent of the authors’ knowledge. The present work attempts to fill that void, by studying the effect of turbulence-radiation interaction on entropy generation. All calculations are approached in such a way as to make them totally compatible with standard engineering methods for radiative heat transfer, namely the discrete ordinates method. It was found that turbulence-radiation interaction does not significantly change the spatial pattern of entropy generation, or heat transfer, but does change significantly their magnitude, in a way approximately proportional to the square of the intensity of turbulence.