Development and comparison of different spatial numerical schemes for the radiative transfer equation resolution using three-dimensional unstructured meshes

In the present work four different spatial numerical schemes have been developed with the aim of reducing the false-scattering of the numerical solutions obtained with the discrete ordinates (DOM) and the finite volume (FVM) methods. These schemes have been designed specifically for unstructured meshes by means of the extrapolation of nodal values of intensity on the studied radiative direction. The schemes have been tested and compared in several 3D benchmark test cases using both structured orthogonal and unstructured grids.     

A three-dimensional finite elements approach for the coupled radiative transfer equation and diffusion approximation modeling in fluorescence imaging

During the last few years a quite large number of fluorescence molecular imaging applications have been reported in the literature, as one of the most challenging aspects in medical imaging is to “see” a tumor embedded into tissue, which is a turbid medium, by using fluorescent probes for tumor labeling. However, the forward solvers, required for the successful convergence of the inverse problem, are still lacking accuracy and time feasibility. Moreover, initialization of these solvers may be proven even more difficult than solving the inverse problem itself. This paper describes in depth a coupled radiative transfer equation and diffusion approximation model for solving the forward problem in fluorescence imaging. The theoretical confrontation of these solvers comprises the model deployment, its Galerkin finite elements approximation and the domain discretization scheme. Finally, a new optical properties mapping algorithm, based on super-ellipsoid models, is implemented, providing a fully automated simulation target construction within feasible time.     

A solution of radiative transfer in isotropic plane-parallel atmosphere by integrating Milne equation

In this paper we solve the inversion problem of the radiative transfer process in the isotropic plane-parallel atmosphere by iterative integrations of the Milne integral equation. As a result, we obtain the scattering function in the form of a cubic polynomial in optical thickness. The author has already solved the same problem by iterative integrations of Chandrasekhar's integral equation. In the Milne integral equation, both the cosines of the viewing angles and the optical thickness are integral variables, while in Chandrasekhar's integral equation the cosines of the viewing angles are variables but the optical thickness is not. We derive several series of exponential-like functions as intermediate derivations. Their convergences are evaluated by the author's previous work in the solution of Chandrasekhar's integral equation. The truncated scattering function up to the third order in optical thickness thus obtained is identical to that obtained from Chandrasekhar's integral equation, though their apparent forms are different. Chandrasekhar pointed out that the solution of Chandrasekhar's integral equation does not have a uniqueness of solution. The Milne equation, in contrast, has been proven to have a unique solution. We discuss the uniqueness of the solution by these two methods.     

Simultaneous solution of Kompaneets equation and radiative transfer equation in the photon energy range 1-125 keV

Radiative transfer equation in plane parallel geometry and Kompaneets equation is solved simultaneously to obtain theoretical spectrum of 1-125 keV photon energy range. Diffuse radiation field are calculated using time-independent radiative transfer equation in plane parallel geometry, which is developed using discrete space theory (DST) of radiative transfer in a homogeneous medium for different optical depths. We assumed free-free emission and absorption and emission due to electron gas to be operating in the medium. The three terms n, n² and (∂n/∂x_k) where n is photon phase density and x_k=(hν/kT_e), in Kompaneets equation and those due to free-free emission are utilized to calculate the change in the photon phase density in a hot electron gas. Two types of incident radiation are considered: (1) isotropic radiation with the modified black body radiation I^MB[1] and (2) anisotropic radiation which is angle dependent. The emergent radiation at τ=0 and reflected radiation τ=τ_max are calculated by using the diffuse radiation from the medium. The emergent and reflected radiation contain the free-free emission and emission from the hot electron gas. Kompaneets equation gives the changes in photon phase densities in different types of media. Although the initial spectrum is angle dependent, the Kompaneets equation gives a spectrum which is angle independent after several Compton scattering times.     

A quasi-analytic solution of the radiative transfer equation for three-dimensional atmospheres

In this study, we present a new solution of the three-dimensional (3-D) radiation transfer equation (RTE). The solution employs a discretization technique to separate the independent variables involved in the 3-D RTE, and the doubling-adding method to solve the RTE explicitly and quasi-analytically. The remarkable feature of the present solution is the application of scaling-function expansion to those terms that are dependent on horizontal coordinates. Scaling-function expansion is suitable for representing irregular horizontal inhomogeneities with small-scale variations. By applying scaling-function expansion, the 3-D RTE can be formulated in the form of a vector-matrix differential equation; matrices involved in the equation are generally sparse and dominantly diagonal matrices, and this considerably reduces the labor involved in matrix calculations. We tested the performance of the present solution via radiative transfer calculations of solar radiation in horizontally inhomogeneous two-dimensional cloud models. The calculated results indicate that even if the resolution of the scaling-function expansion is too coarse in regions around small-scale variations, the influence does not spread problematically to other regions far from the variations; this illustrates the advantage of the scaling-function expansion. The present solution can be used to investigate quantitatively and to estimate the effects of cloud spatial inhomogeneity on the corresponding radiation field.     

Spectral collocation method with a flexible angular discretization scheme for radiative transfer in multi-layer graded index medium

The spectral collocation method (SCM) is employed to solve the radiative transfer in multi-layer semitransparent medium with graded index. A new flexible angular discretization scheme is employed to discretize the solid angle domain freely to overcome the limit of the number of discrete radiative direction when adopting traditional S_N discrete ordinate scheme. Three radial basis function interpolation approaches, named as multi-quadric (MQ), inverse multi-quadric (IMQ) and inverse quadratic (IQ) interpolation, are employed to couple the radiative intensity at the interface between two adjacent layers and numerical experiments show that MQ interpolation has the highest accuracy and best stability. Variable radiative transfer problems in double-layer semitransparent media with different thermophysical properties are investigated and the influence of these thermophysical properties on the radiative transfer procedure in double-layer semitransparent media is also analyzed. All the simulated results show that the present SCM with the new angular discretization scheme can predict the radiative transfer in multi-layer semitransparent medium with graded index efficiently and accurately.     

A new 1D approximation for the solution of 2D radiative transfer problems

The simplified M-1D algorithm (M stands for modified) for the calculation of horizontal distribution of reflected brightness coefficient in 2D regions with large homogeneous pixels is presented. This algorithm is based upon modified 3^?N−1 1D-transport equations (where N is the number of large pixels) instead of one 2D-transport equation, usually used in such problems. The method does not rely on empiric assumptions on both optical properties of atmosphere or diffuse radiation intensity. Numerical results demonstrating the accuracy of the presented algorithm for simulating brightening and shadowing effects in a vicinity of the jump of optical properties given. The accuracy of the M-1D approximation strongly depends on the geometry and illumination conditions. However, it remains below 15% and can reach 1% for all cases studied and is strongly higher than the accuracy of usually employed independent pixel approximation. Time reduction via replacing 2D problem via modified 1D problem is about 17 times for all cases considered in this paper.     

Comparison of the radiative transfer equations for constant and spatially varying refraction

The radiative transfer equation for scattering media with constant refraction index (RTE) and the radiative transfer equation for scattering media with spatially varying refraction index (RTEvri) are compared by using the principle of conservation of energy. It is shown that the RTEvri, not only accounts for the spatial variations of refraction index, but also contains a term that accounts for the divergence of the rays. The latter term is missing in the RTE. A corrected RTE is proposed.     

Retrieval of water cloud characteristic from active sensor data using the analytical solution of radiative transfer equation

An analytical forward model and numerical algorithm for retrieving the parameters of water cloud of earth atmosphere from optical measurements carried out by satellite-based lidars is presented. The forward model, based on the analytical solution of the radiative transfer equation, is used to fit the temporal profile of the laser light pulses backscattered from the cloud layers. The cloud parameters extracted from the analysis at each position on earth include the transport mean free path, the average radius of water drops, the density of drops, the scattering length, the scattering cross section, the anisotropy factor, and the altitude of top level of major clouds. Also estimated is the possible thickness of cloud layers. The efficacy of the approach is demonstrated by generating parameters of water cloud using the data collected by NASA's cloud-aerosol lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observations (CALIPSO) satellite when it passed through North America on August 7, 2007.     

Application of the spatial averaging theorem to radiative heat transfer in two-phase media

The spatial averaging theorem is applied to rigorously derive continuum-scale equations of radiative transfer in two-phase media consisting of arbitrary-type phases in the limit of geometrical optics. The derivations are based on the equations of radiative transfer and the corresponding boundary conditions applied at the discrete-scale to each phase, and on the discrete-scale radiative properties of each phase and the interface between the phases. The derivations confirm that radiative transfer in two-phase media consisting of arbitrary-type phases in the range of geometrical optics can be modeled by a set of two continuum-scale equations of radiative transfer describing the variation of the average intensities associated with each phase. Finally, a Monte Carlo based methodology for the determination of average radiative properties is discussed in the light of previous pertinent studies.     

Transient radiative transfer in the grey case: Well-balanced and asymptotic-preserving schemes built on Case's elementary solutions

An original well-balanced (WB) Godunov scheme relying on an exact Riemann solver involving a non-conservative (NC) product is developed. It is meant to solve accurately the time-dependent one-dimensional radiative transfer equation in the discrete ordinates approximation with an arbitrary even number of velocities. The collision term is thus concentrated onto a discrete lattice by means of Dirac masses; this induces steady contact discontinuities which are integral curves of the stationary problem. One solves it by taking advantage of the method of elementary solutions mainly developed by Case, Zweifel and Cercignani. This approach produces a rather simple scheme that compares advantageously to standard existing upwind schemes, especially for the decay in time toward a Maxwellian distribution. It is possible to reformulate this scheme in order to handle properly the parabolic scaling in order to generate a so-called asymptotic-preserving (AP) discretization. Consistency with the diffusive approximation holds independently of the computational grid. Several numerical results are displayed to show the realizability and the efficiency of the method.     

Benchmark solutions of radiative transfer equation for three-dimensional rectangular homogeneous media

Three-dimensional steady-state radiative integral transfer equations (RITEs) for a cubic absorbing and isotropically scattering homogeneous medium are solved using the method of “subtraction of singularity”. Surface integrals and volume integrals are carried out analytically to eliminate singularities, to assure highly accurate solutions, and to reduce the computational time. The resulting system of linear equations for the incident energy is solved iteratively. Six benchmark problems for cold participating media subjected to various combinations of externally uniform/non-uniform diffuse radiation loads are considered. The solutions for the incident energy and the net heat flux components are given in tabular form for scattering albedos of ω=0, 0.5 and 1.     

Analysis of the radiative transfer equation with highly assymetric phase function

This paper considers a scalar radiative transfer problem with high scattering anisotropy. Two computational methods are presented based on decomposition of the diffuse light field into a regular and anisotropic part. The first algorithm (DOMAS) singles out the anisotropic radiance in the forward scattering peak using the Small-Angle Modification of RTE. The second algorithm (DOM2+) separates the single scattering radiance as an anisotropic part, which largely defines the fine detail of the total radiance in the backscattering directions. In both cases, the anisotropic part is represented analytically. With anisotropy subtraction, the regular part of the signal, which requires a numerical solution, is essentially smoothed as a function of angles. Further, the transport equation is obtained for the regular part that contains an additional source function from the anisotropic part of the signal. This equation is solved with the discrete ordinates method. A conducted numerical analysis of this work showed that algorithm DOMAS has a strong advantage as compared to the standard discrete ordinates method for simulation of the radiance transmission, and DOM2+ is the best of the three for the reflection computations. Both algorithms offer at least a factor of three acceleration of convergence of the azimuthal series for highly anisotropic phase functions.     

A numerical scheme for the solution of axisymmetric radiative transfer problems in irregular domains filled by media with opaque and transparent diffuse and specular boundaries

This paper presents a new numerical scheme of the discrete ordinates method for the solution of axisymmetric radiative transfer problems in irregular domains filled by media with opaque and transparent diffuse and specular (Fresnel) boundaries and interfaces. New test problems of radiative transfer, which describe radiative transfer in domains with Fresnel interfaces, are proposed in this paper. These problems admit analytic solutions and can be used as benchmark ones. The proposed scheme is applied to the solution of the problems. Numerical results show that the presence of Fresnel interfaces leads to an appreciably larger error in numerical solution. This is connected with the “discontinuity” of the Fresnel reflectivity, which, through numerical diffusion, leads to the distortion of numerical solution. Modification of the scheme allows to reduce the numerical error.     

A sensitivity function-based conjugate gradient method for optical tomography with the frequency-domain equation of radiative transfer

The Sensitivity Function-based Conjugate Gradient Method (SFCGM) is described. This method is used to solve the inverse problems of function estimation, such as the local maps of absorption and scattering coefficients, as applied to optical tomography for biomedical imaging. A highly scattering, absorbing, non-reflecting, non-emitting medium is considered here and simultaneous reconstructions of absorption and scattering coefficients inside the test medium are achieved with the proposed optimization technique, by using the exit intensity measured at boundary surfaces. The forward problem is solved with a discrete-ordinates finite-difference method on the framework of the frequency-domain full equation of radiative transfer. The modulation frequency is set to 600 MHz and the frequency data, obtained with the source modulation, is used as the input data. The inversion results demonstrate that the SFCGM can retrieve simultaneously the spatial distributions of optical properties inside the medium within a reasonable accuracy, by significantly reducing a cross-talk between inter-parameters. It is also observed that the closer-to-detector objects are better retrieved.     

Multiple-scaling methods for Monte Carlo simulations of radiative transfer in cloudy atmosphere

Two multiple-scaling methods for Monte Carlo simulations were derived from integral radiative transfer equation for calculating radiance in cloudy atmosphere accurately and rapidly. The first one is to truncate sharp forward peaks of phase functions for each order of scattering adaptively. The truncated functions for forward peaks are approximated as quadratic functions; only one prescribed parameter is used to set maximum truncation fraction for various phase functions. The second one is to increase extinction coefficients in optically thin regions for each order scattering adaptively, which could enhance the collision chance adaptively in the regions where samples are rare. Several one-dimensional and three-dimensional cloud fields were selected to validate the methods. The numerical results demonstrate that the bias errors were below 0.2% for almost all directions except for glory direction (less than 0.4%) and the higher numerical efficiency could be achieved when quadratic functions were used. The second method could decrease radiance noise to 0.60% for cumulus and accelerate convergence in optically thin regions. In general, the main advantage of the proposed methods is that we could modify the atmospheric optical quantities adaptively for each order of scattering and sample important contribution according to the specific atmospheric conditions.     

Solution of the equation of radiative transfer for interlocked doublets by double interval spherical harmonic method

The double-ordinate spherical harmonic method presented by Wilson and Sen (Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 15 (1963) 351) has been used to solve the equation of radiative transfer in the Milne-Eddington model for interlocked doublets. Solutions have been obtained in the first and second approximation in a particular case η₁=1; .     

An approximate analytical solution of the radiative transfer equation in hydrometeors accounting for scattering effects

An iterative method for the radiative transfer equation solution is suggested for the scattering hydrometeors. The method allows to find the layer scattering indicatrix. The method is shown to be more general as compared with the four-flux theory or the perturbation method and differs strongly from these ones because even in the case of the first iteration it gives the results which are very close to ones obtained by numerical methods for all rain scattering angles.     

Evaluation of solution methods for radiative heat transfer in gaseous oxy-fuel combustion environments

The exact solution to radiative heat transfer in combusting flows is not possible analytically due to the complex nature of the integro-differential radiative transfer equation (RTE). Many different approximate solution methods for the solution of the RTE in multi-dimensional problems are available. In this paper, two of the principal methods, the spherical harmonics (P₁) and the discrete ordinates method (DOM) are used to calculate radiation. The radiative properties of the gases are calculated using a non-gray gas full spectrum k-distribution method and a gray method. Analysis of the effects of numerical quadrature in the DOM and its effect on computation time is performed. Results of different radiative property methods are compared with benchmark statistical narrow band (SNB) data for both cases that simulate air combustion and oxy-fuel combustion. For both cases, results of the non-gray full spectrum k-distribution method are in good agreement with the SNB data. In the case of oxy-fuel simulations with high partial pressures of carbon dioxide, use of gray method for the radiative properties may cause errors and should be avoided.     

Effect of the improvement of the HITRAN database on the radiative transfer calculation

The line parameters of the HITRAN 2004 have been updated, as compared with the older editions (the 2000 edition and the 1996 edition). In order to know the effect of the modifications on radiative transfer calculation with high spectral resolution, comparison in optical depth and radiance spectrum have been given between different editions. Four infrared spectral regions are selected, and they cover the three bands of atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS) and one of geosynchronous imaging fourier transform spectrometer (GIFTS). The comparison has shown that the relative difference between HITRAN 2000 and 2004 and that between HITRAN 1996 and 2004 is decreasing. But the maximal discrepancy between the latest two editions in some spectral intervals is over 1%. It is important to estimate the error of calculation with the line parameters correctly or one has to use the new edition of HITRAN.