Analysis of collimated radiation in participating media using the discrete transfer method

A general formulation of the discrete transfer method is provided to analyze radiative heat transfer problems in a participating medium subjected to collimated radiation. The formulation is validated by considering 1-D planar absorbing, emitting and anisotropically scattering gray medium in radiative equilibrium. Anisotropy of the medium is approximated by linear anisotropic phase function. For the purpose of comparison, the problem is also solved analytically. Results are obtained for different angles of incidence of the collimated radiation. At a given angle of incidence, results are obtained for forward, isotropic and backward scattering situations. Heat flux results are compared over a wide range of values of the extinction coefficient. Emissive power distributions in the medium are also obtained for some cases. The discrete transfer method results are found to compare very well with the analytic results.     

Finite element method for radiation heat transfer in multi-dimensional graded index medium

In graded index medium, ray goes along a curved path determined by Fermat principle, and curved ray-tracing is very difficult and complex. To avoid the complicated and time-consuming computation of curved ray trajectories, a finite element method based on discrete ordinate equation is developed to solve the radiative transfer problem in a multi-dimensional semitransparent graded index medium. Two particular test problems of radiative transfer are taken as examples to verify this finite element method. The predicted dimensionless net radiative heat fluxes are determined by the proposed method and compared with the results obtained by finite volume method. The results show that the finite element method presented in this paper has a good accuracy in solving the multi-dimensional radiative transfer problem in semitransparent graded index medium.     

Least-squares finite element method for radiation heat transfer in graded index medium

To avoid the complicated and time-consuming computation of curved ray trajectories, a least-squares finite element method based on discrete ordinate equation is extended to solve the radiative transfer problem in a multi-dimensional semitransparent graded index medium. Four cases of radiative heat transfer are examined to verify this least-squares finite element method. Linear and nonlinear graded index are considered. The predicted dimensionless net radiative heat fluxes are determined by the least-squares finite element method and compared with the results obtained by other methods. The results show that the least-squares finite element method is stable and has a good accuracy in solving the multi-dimensional radiative transfer problem in a semitransparent graded index medium, while the Galerkin finite element method sometimes suffers from nonphysical oscillations.     

Analysis of radiative transport in a cylindrical enclosure—An application of the modified discrete ordinate method

Application of the modified discrete ordinate method (MDOM) proposed by Mishra et al. [Mishra SC, Roy HK, Misra N. Discrete ordinate method with a new and simple quadrature scheme. J Quant Spectrosc Radiat Transfer 2006;101:249-262.] has been extended for calculation of volumetric radiative information in a cylindrical enclosure. Radiatively, the medium inside a diffuse gray 1-D concentric cylinder is absorbing, emitting and scattering. Three types of problems, viz., an isothermal medium representing non-radiative equilibrium case, a non-isothermal medium representing radiative equilibrium situation and the case of a combined mode conduction and radiation heat transfer have been used to test the robustness of the MDOM. Temperature/emissive power and heat flux/energy flow rate distributions in the medium have been found for the effects of various parameters like the extinction coefficient, the scattering albedo, the boundary emissivity and the conduction-radiation parameter. To check the accuracy of the results of the MDOM, results have been compared with those available in the literature and also by obtaining the radiative information using the finite volume method. MDOM has been found to provide accurate results.     

Modeling of radiative heat transfer in an axisymmetric cylindrical enclosure with participating medium

Radiative heat transfer in an axisymmetric enclosure with absorbing, emitting, and scattering medium is studied here by using the different methods such as MDOM, FVM, and MFVM with emphasis on the treatment of angular derivative term, which appears in curvilinear coordinates due to angular redistribution. After final discretization equation for MFVM is introduced by using the step scheme and directional weights, the present approach is validated by applying it to three different benchmarking problems with absorbing, emitting, and scattering medium. All of the results presented here support its accuracy as well as moderate efficiency. Finally, the present approaches are applied to a truncated cone-shaped enclosure as a body-fitted geometry case.     

Transient radiation and conduction heat transfer inside a plane-parallel participating gray medium with boundaries having different reflecting characteristics

A hybrid ray-tracing method is developed for the solution to the radiative transfer in a plane-parallel participating medium having one specular surface and another diffuse surface. By this method, radiative transfer coefficients (RTCs) for specular–diffuse (S–D) surfaces are deduced. The medium surfaces are considered to be semitransparent. The effects of convection–radiation parameter, conduction–radiation parameter and refractive index on transient coupled heat transfer are investigated. Results show that the temperature curves of the medium having S–D surfaces is higher than those of the medium having S–S surfaces (two specular surfaces); the total heat flux at steady state for the S–D surfaces is lower than that for the S–S surfaces.     

Discrete ordinates interpolation method for radiative heat transfer problems in three-dimensional enclosures filled with non-gray or scattering medium

The discrete ordinates interpolation method (DOIM) is applied to three groups of problems of radiative heat transfer in three-dimensional rectangular enclosures containing non-gray or scattering medium. The original DOIM is first extended to a gray gas model using a new geometric interpolation scheme. It is applied to participating media for different scattering phase functions and optical thicknesses. For the non-gray gas model, the DOIM coupled with the narrow band-based weighted-sum-of-gray-gases (WSGG) model is developed. A few test problems with real gases such as pure H₂O and a mixture of CO₂, H₂O and N₂ are taken. The wall heat flux is calculated and compared with the exact solutions or reference values. All results of test problems are found to be reliable in this study. The DOIM closely reproduces the Monte Carlo reference solutions for different scattering phase functions and optical thicknesses. The non-gray gas results are compared with reference calculations based on the statistical narrow band model and they also show good agreements. The DOIM shows a remarkable merit in the computation time and the grid compatibility, to prove its usefulness for engineering applications.     

Application of the lattice Boltzmann method to transient conduction and radiation heat transfer in cylindrical media

In this paper, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to solve the energy equation of a transient conduction-radiation heat transfer problem in a two-dimensional cylindrical enclosure filled with an emitting, absorbing and scattering media. The control volume finite element method (CVFEM) is used to obtain the radiative information. To demonstrate the workability of the LBM in conjunction with the CVFEM to conduction-radiation problems in cylindrical media, the energy equation of the same problem is also solved using the finite difference method (FDM). The effects of different parameters, such as the grid size, the scattering albedo, the extinction coefficient and the conduction-radiation parameter on temperature distribution within the medium are studied. Results of the present work are compared with those available in the literature. LBM-CVFEM results are also compared with those given by the FDM-CVFEM. In all cases, good agreement has been obtained.     

Finite element formulation of the first- and second-order discrete ordinates equations for radiative heat transfer calculation in three-dimensional participating media

Two finite element methods (FEMs), FEDOM1 and FEDOM2 (standing for the first and the second finite element discrete ordinates methods, respectively), are formulated and numerically tested. The reference second-order discrete equation is modified in its scattering terms and is applied to the problems of absorbing/emitting and anisotropically scattering media by using the FEM. Numerical features of the developed FEMs are compared with one of the discrete ordinates interpolation method (DOIM), which uses a finite difference scheme. Prediction results of radiative heat transfer by these two FEMs are compared with reference solutions and verified in three-dimensional enclosures containing participating media. The results of FEDOM1 and FEDOM2 agree well with exact solutions for the problem of absorbing/emitting medium with various range of optical thickness. Generally, the two FEMs show more accurate results than DOIM. And FEDOM1 shows more accurate results than FEDOM2 in most of the test problems. Both of the developed FEMs show reasonable results compared with published Monte Carlo solutions for the tested absorbing/emitting and anisotropically scattering media. Although the FEDOM2 is not as accurate as the FEDOM1, it shows its own advantages that it reduces CPU time and memory space of dependent variable to half.     

Finite element analysis of concurrent radiation and conduction in participating media

A method is proposed to calculate temperature, conductive and radiative heat flux distributions in a participating medium. The method is based on the simultaneous solution of two non-linear and mutually conjugated equations describing distribution of both temperature and the so-called radiation function in the medium. In the case of isotropic scattering, the latter quantity, is proportional to the local energy density of radiation. The solution of the coupled non-linear equations is based on the finite element spatial discretization combined with the iterative technique.     

Effect of anisotropic scattering on radiative heat transfer in two-dimensional rectangular media

Effect of scattering on radiative heat transfer in two-dimensional rectangular media by the finite-volume method has been studied. Compared with the existing solutions, it shows that the result obtained by the finite-volume method is reliable. Furthermore, relative errors caused by the approximation that linear and nonlinear anisotropic scattering media is simplified to isotropic scattering media have been studied.     

Numerical solution of radiative and conductive heat transfer in concentric spherical and cylindrical media

A new technique is presented to improve the performance of the discrete ordinates method when solving the coupled conduction-radiation problems in spherical and cylindrical media. In this approach the angular derivative term of the discretized one-dimensional radiative transfer equation is derived from an expansion of the radiative intensity on the basis of Chebyshev polynomials. The set of resulting differential equations, obtained by the application of the S_N method, is numerically solved using the boundary value problem with the finite difference algorithm. Results are presented for the different independent parameters. Numerical results obtained using the Chebyshev transform method compare well with the benchmark approximate solutions. Moreover, the new technique can easily be applied to higher-order S_N calculations.     

Non-Fourier heat conduction with radiation in an absorbing, emitting, and isotropically scattering medium

This article numerically analyses the combined conductive and radiative heat transfer in an absorbing, emitting, and isotropically scattering medium. The non-Fourier heat conduction equation, which includes the time lag between heat flux and the temperature gradient, is used to model the conductive heat transfer in the medium. It predicts that a temperature disturbance will propagate as a wave at finite speed. The radiative heat transfer is solved using the P₃ approximation method. In addition, the MacCormack's explicit predictor-corrector scheme is used to solve the non-Fourier problem. The effects of radiation including single scattering albedo, conduction-to-radiation parameter, and optical thickness of the medium on the transient and steady state temperature distributions are investigated in detail. Analysis results indicate that the internal radiation in the medium significantly influences the wave nature. The thermal wave nature in the combined non-Fourier heat conduction with radiation is more obvious for large values of conduction-to-radiation parameter, small values of optical thickness and higher scattering medium. The results from non-Fourier-effect equation are also compared to those obtained from the Fourier equation. Non-Fourier effect becomes insignificant as either time increases or the effect of radiation increases.     

Verification of numerical simulation method for entropy generation of radiation heat transfer in semitransparent medium

The numerical simulation method of radiative entropy generation in participating media presented by Caldas and Semiao [Entropy generation through radiative transfer in participating media: analysis and numerical computation. JQSRT 2005;96:423-37] is extended to analyze the radiative entropy generation in the enclosures filled with semitransparent media. A discrete ordinates method is used to solve radiative transfer equation and radiative entropy generation. Two different examples are employed to verify the numerical simulation method of radiative entropy generation in the enclosure. Numerical results of dimensionless radiative entropy generation of enclosure are identical to that of entire thermodynamics analysis for the enclosure system. This numerical simulation method can be used in the entropy generation analysis of high-temperature systems such as boilers and furnaces, in which radiation is the dominant mode of heat transfer.     

Theoretical study of combined radiative conductive and convective heat transfer in semi-transparent porous medium in a spherical enclosure

A new method for the solution of the radiative transfer equation in spherical media based on a modified discrete ordinates method is extended to study radiative, conductive and convective heat transfer in a semi-transparent scattering porous medium. The set of differential equations is solved using the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Various results are obtained for the case of combined radiative and conductive heat transfer, as well as for the interaction of those modes with convection. The effects of some radiative properties of the medium on the heat transfer rate are examined.     

Analysis of the characteristics of time-resolved signals for transient radiative transfer in scattering participating media

Transient radiative transfer (TRT) in one-dimensional (1-D) homogeneous and inhomogeneous media with ultra-short pulse laser irradiated is investigated by means of the finite volume method (FVM) in the present research. Comparing with the steady radiative transfer (SRT), the extra time-resolved information can be obtained in TRT. Meanwhile, the propagation speed of short-pulse laser and the geometric thickness of the media should be considered in the simulation of TRT problem besides the optical thickness. A new nondimensional number ζ=ct_p/L is presented. For the homogeneous media, the temporal signals would overlap one another with different combinations of the pulse duration and the thickness of the media with the same ζ. Furthermore, in two-layer media, the influence of the scattering albedo, optical thickness and the geometric thickness of the participating media on ‘dual-peak’ are studied thoroughly. The improved expression of the ‘local minimum’ in the ‘dual-peak’ and the interface location of the multi-layer media are provided.     

Transient combined radiation and conduction in a one-dimensional non-gray participating medium with anisotropic optical properties subjected to radiative flux at the boundaries

Transient combined heat transfer by radiation and conduction is investigated in non-gray participating media with anisotropic optical properties. The medium is irradiated by a time-dependent source. Different kinds of boundaries are considered: black, opaque, transparent and semi-transparent. The heat transfer equations are solved numerically in a one-dimensional configuration. Comparisons are made with test cases taken from the literature, and the results obtained demonstrate the accuracy of the present numerical model. The influence of transparent, semi-transparent and opaque boundaries on an insulating fibrous medium is also studied.     

Curved ray tracing method for one-dimensional radiative transfer in the linear-anisotropic scattering medium with graded index

The curved ray tracing method (CRT) is extended to radiative transfer in the linear-anisotropic scattering medium with graded index from non-scattering medium. In this paper, the CRT is presented to solve one-dimensional radiative transfer in the linear-anisotropic scattering gray medium with a linear refractive index and two black boundaries. The predicted temperature distributions and radiative heat flux at radiative equilibrium are determined by the proposed method, and numerical results are compared with the data in references. The results show that the CRT has a good accuracy for radiative transfer in the linear-anisotropic scattering medium with graded index and the dimensionless emissive power and dimensionless radiative heat flux depend on the dimensionless refractive index gradient. It can also be seen that the dimensionless refractive index gradient has important effects on the temperature discontinuity at the boundaries.     

The radiative transfer in cylindrical medium and partition allocation method by overlap regions

In this paper the radiative transfer in one-dimensional and two-dimensional cylindrical medium is simulated by the Monte-Carlo (M-C) method. Our results agree with the previous ones very well. It indicates that our cylindrical M-C model is creditable. In this paper, the partition allocation method of radiative heat transfer in participating cylindrical media is presented, in which every sub-domain is isolated by imaginary black wall at certain equivalent temperature and overlaps each other. The stitched results of all sub-domains can predict the results of a whole zone accurately. The partitioned treatment by overlap regions can achieve reasonable result, save memory efficiently, and compute parallel.     

Modified finite volume method applied to radiative transfer in 2D complex geometries and graded index media

A modified finite volume method with unstructured triangular meshes is proposed to solve the RTE in 2D complex geometries and for graded index media. In such media, the RTE has an additional term corresponding to “angular redistribution”. This term is due to the change in the orientation of the direction of propagation for the radiation along curved optical paths. Some benchmark cases applied to a slab (1D) and a square cavity (2D) with linear and nonlinear refractive graded index are used to validate the new method. New results are presented for a disk with radial graded index.