Fast approximate technique for the cumulative wavenumber model to modeling radiative transfer in a mixture of real gas media

In the cumulative wavenumber (CW) model, the total range of the absorption cross-section Cη is subdivided into the supplementary absorption cross-section of gray gases C_j, j=1,…,n, where n is the number of gray gases; and the wavenumber region is subdivided into intervals Δ_i=[η_i−1, η_i], i=1, 2,…,p, where p is the number of intervals. The intersection of the two spectral subdivisions is used to define the modeling of the fractional gray gas D_ij. In the CW model, we solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) in every subinterval D_ij; then it is necessary to solve n x p times the spectral form of the RTE for complete spectral integration. In this work, the CW model is used with a numerical approximation technique based on additive properties of radiative intensity to reduce the solution of RTE to n new fractional gray gas D_j for complete spectral integration. The CW model was first coupled with the discrete ordinates method and the accuracy of the simplified technique and the algorithm was first examined for one-dimensional homogeneous media; results are compared with line-by-line calculations and it is found that the CW model with the simplified technique is exact for the homogeneous media examined. Also, the fast approach is tested in the diffuse reflecting boundaries case. The CW model is implemented in a bi-dimensional enclosure containing real gases in isothermal cases. Afterwards, this approximate technique is extended to non-isothermal and non-homogeneous cases; the results are compared with line-by-line calculations taken from literature and good agreement was found. The results obtained using the acceleration technique for the CW model agree with the results of original CW model. With this acceleration technique the CPU time decreases p times. Spectral database HITRAN and HITEMP are used to obtain the molecular absorption spectrum of the gases.     

A Monte Carlo implementation to solve radiation heat transfer in non-uniform media with spectrally dependent properties

This paper presents the application of the Monte Carlo method to solve the radiative heat exchange in non-homogeneous, non-isothermal gases with spectrally dependent properties. Among others models, the absorption-line blackbody (ALB) distribution function, originally defined and derived for the spectral line-based weighted-sum-of-gray-gases (SLW) model, allows an immediate, simple implementation of the Monte Carlo method to account the spectral dependence of the radiative properties. This work shows how the Monte Carlo method can be combined to the ALB distribution function, and provides results for heat transfer in a mixture of water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrogen that have satisfactory agreement with the SLW method and with line-by-line integration. Finally, the solution technique is employed to solve two examples aiming at demonstrating the effect of the absorbing species concentration on the thermal radiative exchanges. The method is of great interest for the computation of radiative transfer in combustion systems where the chemical species concentration and the temperature are not uniform.     

The method of lines solution of discrete ordinates method for radiative heat transfer in cylindrical enclosures

A radiation code based on method of lines solution of discrete ordinates method for radiative heat transfer in axisymmetric cylindrical enclosures containing absorbing-emitting medium was developed and tested for predictive accuracy by applying it to (i) test problems with black and grey walls (ii) a gas turbine combustor simulator enclosing a non-homogeneous absorbing-emitting medium and benchmarking its steady-state predictions against exact solutions and measurements. Comparisons show that it provides accurate solutions for radiative heat fluxes and can be used with confidence in conjunction with CFD codes based on the same approach.     

Multilayer modeling of radiative transfer by SLW and CW methods in non-isothermal gaseous medium

Non-isothermal gaseous medium is modeled using the multilayer approach, breaking the one-dimensional system into a series of isothermal layers. Spectral integration of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) is performed for the spectral line weighted-sum-of-gray-gases and cumulative wavenumber approaches to modeling the spectral nature of the gas radiation. An exact analytical solution of RTE is obtained for the layers with both black and gray walls. Predictions show high accuracy, even with surprisingly few layers.     

Discontinuous spectral element method for solving radiative heat transfer in multidimensional semitransparent media

A discontinuous spectral element method (DSEM) is presented to solve radiative heat transfer in multidimensional semitransparent media. This method is based on the general discontinuous Galerkin formulation. Chebyshev polynomial is used to build basis function on each element and both structured and unstructured elements are considered. The DSEM has properties such as hp-convergence, local conservation and its solutions are allowed to be discontinuous across interelement boundaries. The influences of different schemes for treatment of the interelement numerical flux on the performance of the DSEM are compared. The p-convergence characteristics of the DSEM are studied. Four various test problems are taken as examples to verify the performance of the DSEM, especially the performance to solve the problems with discontinuity in the angular distribution of radiative intensity. The predicted results by the DSEM agree well with the benchmark solutions. Numerical results show that the p-convergence rate of the DSEM follows exponential law, and the DSEM is stable, accurate and effective to solve multidimensional radiative transfer in semitransparent media.     

Grey radiative transfer in binary statistical media with material temperature coupling: asymptotic limits

Simplified models for the unconditional ensemble-averaged radiation intensity and material energy are developed for radiative transfer in binary statistical media. Asymptotic analysis is used to construct an effective transport model with homogenized opacities in two limits. In the first, the material properties are assumed to have low contrast on average, and is shown to correctly reproduce the well-known atomic mix model in both time-dependent and equilibrium situations. Our analysis successfully resolves an inconsistency previously noted in the literature with the application of the standard definition of the atomic mix limit to radiative transfer in participating random media. In the second limit considered, the materials are assumed to have highly contrasting opacities, yielding a reduced transport model with effective scattering. The existence of these limits requires the mean chunk sizes to be independent of the photon direction and this creates an ambiguity in the interpretation of the models when the underlying stochastic geometry is comprised of alternating one-dimensional slabs. A consistent one-dimensional setting is defined and the asymptotic models are numerically validated over a broad range of physical parameter values.     

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.     

Development of a finite element model for coupled radiative and conductive heat transfer in participating media

Considering the geometrical applicability, a finite element model (FEM) for coupled radiative-conductive heat transfer has been developed which is applicable to enclosures of arbitrary geometry in present research. The present work provides a solution of coupled heat transfer in a rectangular, cylindrical or annulus enclosure with black or gray walls containing an absorbing-emitting-scattering medium. It is also applied to study the influence of conductive/radiation coefficient, albedo and wall emissivity on the temperature distribution in the medium. Compared with the results available in other references, the present FEM has no limitation with respect to geometry and can predict the coupled radiative-conductive heat transfer in participating media accurately.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Least-squares collocation meshless approach for radiative heat transfer in absorbing and scattering media

A least-squares collocation meshless method is employed for solving the radiative heat transfer in absorbing, emitting and scattering media. The least-squares collocation meshless method for radiative transfer is based on the discrete ordinates equation. A moving least-squares approximation is applied to construct the trial functions. Except for the collocation points which are used to construct the trial functions, a number of auxiliary points are also adopted to form the total residuals of the problem. The least-squares technique is used to obtain the solution of the problem by minimizing the summation of residuals of all collocation and auxiliary points. Three numerical examples are studied to illustrate the performance of this new solution method. The numerical results are compared with the other benchmark approximate solutions. By comparison, the results show that the least-squares collocation meshless method is efficient, accurate and stable, and can be used for solving the radiative heat transfer in absorbing, emitting and scattering media.     

Monte Carlo ray-tracing simulation for radiative heat transfer in turbulent fluctuating media under the optically thin fluctuation approximation

The Monte Carlo ray-tracing method (MCRT) based on the concept of radiation distribution factor is extended to solve radiative heat transfer problem in turbulent fluctuating media under the optically thin fluctuation approximation. A one-dimensional non-scattering turbulent fluctuating media is considered, in which the mean temperature and absorption coefficient distribution are assumed and the shape of probability density function is given. The distribution of the time-averaged volume radiation heat source is solved by MCRT and direct integration method. It is shown that the results of MCRT based on the concept of radiation distribution factor agree with these of integration solution very well, but results of MCRT based on the concept of radiative transfer coefficient do not agree with these of integration solution. The solution of time-averaged radiative transfer equation by the concept of radiative transfer coefficient should be treated with caution.     

Prediction of radiative heat transfer in 3D complex geometries using the unstructured control volume finite element method

In this paper, a 3D algorithm for the treatment of radiative heat transfer in emitting, absorbing, and scattering media is developed. The numerical approach is based on the utilization of the unstructured control volume finite element method (CVFEM) which, to the knowledge of the authors, is applied for the first time to simulate radiative heat transfer in participated media confined in 3D complex geometries. This simulation makes simultaneously the use of the merits of both the finite element method and the control volume method. Unstructured 3D triangular element grids are employed in the spatial discretization and azimuthal discretization strategy is employed in the angular discretization. The general discretization equation is presented and solved by the conditioned conjugate gradient squared method (CCGS). In order to test the efficiency of the developed method, several 3D complex geometries including a hexahedral enclosure, a 3D equilateral triangular enclosure, a 3D L-shaped enclosure and 3D elliptical enclosure are examined. The results are compared with the exact solutions or published references and the accuracy obtained in each case is shown to be highly satisfactory. Moreover, this approach required a less CPU time and iterations compared with those of even parity formulation of the discrete ordinates method.     

On the finite volume method and the discrete ordinates method regarding radiative heat transfer in acute forward anisotropic scattering media

The ability of the finite volume method (FVM) and the discrete ordinates method (DOM) to model radiative heat transfer in acute forward anisotropic scattering media has been investigated. The test case involves a purely scattering medium in a cubic enclosure, irradiated by one boundary with diffuse emission. Four phase functions have been considered: three of the Henyey-Greenstein type with respective asymmetry factors of 0.2, 0.8 and 0.93, and a Mie phase function with a strong forward scattering peak (computed for a size parameter of 245 and corresponding to an asymmetry factor of 0.93). Results obtained with the FVM are in good agreement with Monte Carlo reference solutions, whatever the level of acute anisotropic scattering (for asymmetry factors up to 0.93). The DOM combined with the renormalization procedures of the phase function proposed by Kim and Lee (Effect of anisotropic scattering on radiative heat transfer in two-dimensional rectangular enclosures. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 1988;31:1711-21. [1]) and Wiscombe (On initialization error and flux conservation in the doubling method. JQSRT 1976;18:637-58. [2]) provides accurate results only for the smallest asymmetry factor. As the asymmetry factor increases, the renormalization procedures induce strong modifications in the values of the discretized phase function resulting in an underestimation of the effective attenuation by scattering. This error has been found to increase with optical thickness. In fact, when using the DOM, results would be more accurate combining this method with a Delta-Eddington approximation of the phase function, instead of using the actual phase function which is altered too much by renormalization.     

A concept of multi-scale modeling for radiative heat transfer in particle polydispersions

To take the local thermal nonequilibrium between particles and the nonuniformity of temperature within a single particle into account, a concept of multi-scale modeling of radiative transfer is presented. Particles are considered to interact with thermal radiation on both micro-scale of a single particle and meso-scale of a particle cell to produce radiative source term at the local or meso-scale level of a particle cell for the modeling of radiative transfer at macro-scale of overall particle system. The accurate modeling of radiative transfer in particle polydispersions are related to the modeling of radiative transfer in following three different scales: macro-scale of the overall particle system, meso-scale of particle cell, and micro-scale of single particle. Two examples are taken to show the necessity of multi-scale modeling for radiative transfer in particle polydispersions. The results show that omitting local thermal nonequilibrium and nonuniformity will result in errors for the solution of radiative heat transfer to some extent, and the multi-scale modeling is necessary for the radiative transfer in particle system with large local thermal nonequilibrium and nonuniformity.     

On radiative transfer in water spray curtains using the discrete ordinates method

Radiative transfer through water spray curtains has been presently addressed in conditions similar to devices used in fire protection systems. The radiation propagation from the heat source through the medium is simulated using a 2D Discrete Ordinates Method. The curtain is treated as an absorbing and anisotropically scattering medium, made of droplets injected in a mixing of air, water vapor and carbon dioxide. Such a participating medium requires a careful treatment of its spectral response in order to model the radiative transfer accurately. This particular problem is dealt with using a correlated-K method. Radiative properties for the droplets are calculated applying the Mie theory. Transmissivities under realistic conditions are then simulated after a validation thanks to comparisons with some experimental data available in the literature. Owing to promising results which are already observed in this case of uncoupled radiative problem, next step will be to combine the present study with a companion work dedicated to the careful treatment of the spray dynamics and of the induced heat transfer phenomena.     

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.     

Evaluation method for radiative heat transfer in polydisperse water droplets

Simplifications of the model for nongray radiative heat transfer analysis in participating media comprised of polydisperse water droplets are presented. Databases of the radiative properties for a water droplet over a wide range of wavelengths and diameters are constructed using rigorous Mie theory. The accuracy of the radiative properties obtained from the database interpolation is validated by comparing them with those obtained from the Mie calculations. The radiative properties of polydisperse water droplets are compared with those of monodisperse water droplets with equivalent mean diameters. Nongray radiative heat transfer in the anisotropic scattering fog layer, including direct and diffuse solar irradiations and infrared sky flux, is analyzed using REM². The radiative heat fluxes within the fog layer containing polydisperse water droplets are compared with those in the layer containing monodisperse water droplets. Through numerical simulation of the radiative heat transfer, polydisperse water droplets can be approximated by using the Sauter diameter, a technique that can be useful in several research fields, such as engineering and atmospheric science. Although this approximation is valid in the case of pure radiative transfer problems, the Sauter diameter is reconfirmed to be the appropriate diameter for approximating problems in radiative heat transfer, although volume-length mean diameter shows better accordance in some cases. The CPU time for nongray radiative heat transfer analysis with a fog model is evaluated. It is proved that the CPU time is decreased by using the databases and the approximation method for polydisperse particulate media.     

A two-step strategy for numerical simulation of radiative transfer with anisotropic scattering and reflection

This article presents a two-step procedure for the computation of radiative heat transfer with anisotropic scattering and reflection. It is based on a concept that the coincident processes of absorption and scattering/reflection can be separated factitiously. All medium elements and wall surfaces are supposed to be pure-absorbing when receiving incident radiation. Afterwards they emit the scattered/reflected radiations. The absorption of both the initial and the secondary radiations can be assessed by the direct exchange area. It is needed to repeat the processes for a few times until the radiations are substantially absorbed. For anisotropic scattering/reflection, a vector summation obtains the directional distribution of emissive power. The method is validated by several benchmark computations in terms of emissive power and heat transfer coefficients. It is shown that the method gives more accurate solution than the isotropic scaling for the heat transfer in anisotropically scattering media.