Monte Carlo discrete curved ray-tracing method for radiative transfer in an absorbing-emitting semitransparent slab with variable spatial refractive index

A Monte Carlo discrete curved ray-tracing method is developed to analyze the radiative transfer in one-dimensional absorbing-emitting semitransparent slab with variable spatial refractive index, in which the Monte Carlo method is combined with the discrete curved ray-tracing method. A problem of radiative equilibrium with linear variable spatial refractive index is taken as an example to examine the accuracy of the proposed method. The temperature distributions and the dimensionless radiative heat flux are determined by the proposed method and compared with the data in references, which are obtained by other different methods. The results show that the Monte Carlo discrete curved ray-tracing method has a good accuracy in solving the radiative transfer in one-dimensional semitransparent slab with variable spatial refractive index.     

Comparison of ray-tracing methods for semitransparent slab with variable spatial refractive index

The ray-tracing technique has the main difficulty in solving radiative transfer in the medium with variable spatial refractive index. Recently, three methods have been developed for the application of the ray-tracing technique in those medium. To compare and discuss the numerical characteristics of those methods, a semitransparent slab with variable spatial refractive index is taken as an example, and the reflectivity and the transmissivity of the slab are computed by the curved ray-tracing method, the multi-layer approach, and the discrete curved ray-tracing method, respectively. As the result, it is shown that, the discrete curved ray-tracing method gives the result with good accuracy and convergence characteristics than the multi-layer approach. Due to accounting physically inexistent reflection on the interface between sublayers, the multi-layer approach converges slowly.     

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.     

Benchmark numerical solutions for radiative heat transfer in two-dimensional medium with graded index distribution

In graded index media, the ray goes along a curved path determined by Fermat principle. Generally, the curved ray trajectory in graded index media is a complex implicit function, and the curved ray tracing is very difficult and complex. Only for some special refractive index distributions, the curved ray trajectory can be expressed as a simple explicit function. Two important examples are the layered and the radial graded index distributions. In this paper, the radiative heat transfer problems in two-dimensional square semitransparent with layered and radial graded index distributions are analyzed. After deduction of the ray trajectory, the radiative heat transfer problems are solved by using the Monte Carlo curved ray-tracing method. Some numerical solutions of dimensionless net radiative heat flux and medium temperature are tabulated as the benchmark solutions for the future development of approximation techniques for multi-dimensional radiative heat transfer in graded index media.     

Radiative transfer equation for graded index medium in cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems

In graded index medium, the ray goes along a curved path determined by Fermat principle, and the curved ray-tracing is very difficult and complex. To avoid the complicated and time-consuming computation of curved ray trajectory, the methods not based on ray-tracing technique need to be developed for the solution of radiative transfer in graded index medium. For this purpose, in this paper the streaming operator along a curved ray trajectory in original radiative transfer equation for graded index medium is transformed and expressed in spatial and angular ordinates and the radiative transfer equation for graded index medium in cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems are derived. The conservative and the non-conservative forms of radiative transfer equation for three-dimensional graded index medium are given, which can be used as base equations to develop the numerical simulation methods, such as finite volume method, discrete ordinates method, and finite element method, for radiative transfer in graded index medium in cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems.     

Temperature field of radiative equilibrium in a semitransparent slab with a linear refractive index and gray walls

The temperature field in a semitransparent slab of absorbing-emitting gray medium at radiative equilibrium is solved in this paper. The medium has a linear refractive index and the two boundaries are diffuse gray walls. A curved ray tracing technique is combined with a pseudo-source adding method to deduce the radiative intensities on the gray walls. And on the basis of the previous work done by Ben Abdallah and Le Dez, the discrete temperature field in the slab is deduced. The influences of refractive index distribution, boundary wall emissivities and optical thickness on the radiative equilibrium temperature field are examined. The results display the significant influences of the refractive index distribution and the boundary wall emissivities.     

Temperature field of radiative equilibrium in a two-dimensional graded index medium with gray boundaries

In this paper, a numerical method is presented for the study of the radiative transfer in a two-dimensional graded index semitransparent medium with diffuse gray boundaries. The numerical method is a combination of the linear refractive index bar model, the discrete curved ray-tracing technique and the pseudo source adding method (LRIB-CRTP). In the traditional ray-tracing technique, it is difficult to deal with the diffuse gray boundary while solving the radiative transfer. Using the pseudo source adding method, the diffuse gray boundary of the medium can be treated as a black boundary. We have also studied the radiative equilibrium temperature field of the medium and analyzed the influence of some parameters involved. The results show that the directional discrete number is important for the medium having a large absorption coefficient. The results also show that the refractive index distribution greatly influences the temperature field, whereas the linear absorption coefficient distribution has little influence on the temperature field.     

Discontinuous finite element method for radiative heat transfer in semitransparent graded index medium

To avoid the complicated and time-consuming computation of curved ray trajectories, a discontinuous finite element method based on discrete ordinate equation is extended to solve the radiative transfer problem in a multi-dimensional semitransparent graded index medium. Two cases of radiative heat transfer in two-dimensional rectangular gray semitransparent graded index medium enclosed by opaque boundary are examined to verify this discontinuous finite element method. Special layered and radial graded index distributions are considered. The predicted dimensionless net radiative heat fluxes and dimensionless temperature distributions are determined by the discontinuous finite element method and compared with the results obtained by the curved Monte Carlo method in references. The results show that the discontinuous finite element method has a good accuracy in solving the multi-dimensional radiative transfer problem in a 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.     

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.     

半透明梯度折射率介质内辐射熵传递方程及其数值模拟

在非相干辐射条件下,基于Planck光谱辐射熵强度定义,导出半透明梯度折射率介质内光谱辐射熵传递方程,以及局部辐射熵产率理论表达式.基于离散坐标法对辐射熵传递方程进行数值求解.以一维半透明梯度介质平板为例,对辐射熵方程及其算法进行验证.平板整体无因次辐射熵产的计算结果与宏观热力学定律的结果一致.     

Meshless approach for coupled radiative and conductive heat transfer in one-dimensional graded index medium

A meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) approach is employed for solving the coupled radiative and conductive heat transfer in a one-dimensional slab with graded index media. The angular distribution term in discrete ordinate equation of radiative transfer within a one-dimensional graded index slab is discretized by a step scheme, and the meshless approach for radiative transfer is based on the discrete ordinate equation. A moving least-squares approximation is used to construct the shape function. Two particular test cases for coupled radiative and conductive heat transfer within a one-dimensional graded index slab are examined to verify this new approximate method. The temperatures and the radiative heat fluxes are obtained. The results are compared with the other benchmark approximate solutions. By comparison, the results show that the MLPG approach has a good accuracy in solving the coupled radiative and conductive heat transfer in one-dimensional graded index media.     

Radiative intensity solution and thermal emission analysis of a semitransparent medium layer with a sinusoidal refractive index

The radiative intensity in a sinusoidal refractive index semitransparent medium layer is solved by the curved ray-tracing method in combination with the pseudo-source adding method. One boundary of the medium layer is an opaque diffuse substrate wall. The other boundary is a semitransparent specular or diffuse surface, from which the medium thermal emission emerges. With considering a linear temperature distribution, the radiative intensity formulae are, respectively, deduced under the two boundary conditions. On the basis of the radiative intensity solutions, the directional and hemispherical emission of the medium layer with a specular surface as well as the hemispherical emission of that with a diffuse surface are calculated. The influences of the optical thickness, sinusoidal refractive index distribution and linear temperature distribution on the thermal emission are investigated. The results show that the effects of refractive index and temperature distribution are significant and are different under the two reflecting modes of the surface.     

On the derivation of vector radiative transfer equation for polarized radiative transport in graded index media

Light transport in graded index media follows a curved trajectory determined by Fermat's principle. Besides the effect of variation of the refractive index on the transport of radiative intensity, the curved ray trajectory will induce geometrical effects on the transport of polarization ellipse. This paper presents a complete derivation of vector radiative transfer equation for polarized radiation transport in absorption, emission and scattering graded index media. The derivation is based on the analysis of the conserved quantities for polarized light transport along curved trajectory and a novel approach. The obtained transfer equation can be considered as a generalization of the classic vector radiative transfer equation that is only valid for uniform refractive index media. Several variant forms of the transport equation are also presented, which include the form for Stokes parameters defined with a fixed reference and the Eulerian forms in the ray coordinate and in several common orthogonal coordinate systems.     

Numerical approach for reflections and transmittance of finite plane-parallel absorbing and scattering medium subjected to normal and diffuse incidence

The discrete ordinate method (DOM) is used to analyze the radiative energy transfer in one-dimensional absorbing, scattering and non-emitting planar slab subjected to normal and diffuse incidence. To improve the ability of DOM to treat complex scattering phase function, a revision of DOM is presented. The reflectance and transmittance of a semitransparent planar slab is calculated by the DOM. The results are compared with the exact values and the solution arrived at other approximate method. It is shown that the DOM has a good accuracy in solving the reflectance and transmittance of a semitransparent planar slab, and can easily treat the complex scattering phase function.     

Transient coupled heat transfer in a rectangular medium with black surfaces

The main objective of this paper is to extend to two-dimensional (2-D) medium the ray tracing-node analyzing method, which has already been successfully used to solve one-dimensional (1-D) problem of coupled heat transfer in a semitransparent medium. For simplicity, an infinitely long rectangular semitransparent medium with four black opaque surfaces is chosen as our studying object. A control volume method in the implicit scheme is adopted for discretizing the partial transient energy equation. In combination with spectral band model, the radiative heat source term is calculated using the radiative transfer coefficients (RTCs), which are deduced by the ray tracing method. The Partankar's linearization method is used to linearize the radiative source term and the opaque boundary condition, and the linearized equations are solved by the ADI method. Effects of absorption coefficient, refractive index and conductivity on transient cooling process in the 2-D gray rectangular medium are investigated under the condition that the radiation and convection processes cool one side of the rectangular medium while heat the remaining three sides.     

Two analytic methods applied to radiative transfer in the linear-anisotropic scattering medium with graded index and diffuse gray boundaries

The curved ray-tracing method is extended to radiative transfer in the graded index medium with diffuse gray boundary conditions instead of black boundary conditions and the pseudo-source adding method is extended to the case of the linear-anisotropic scattering medium with graded index from non-scattering medium. Furthermore, the equivalence of the two methods is verified by formulation derivation. As exact analytical solutions, both the methods have high accuracy and fast computational speed. The predicted temperature distributions and dimensionless radiative heat flux at radiative equilibrium are determined by the proposed methods, and the numerical results are compared with the data in references. The results show that the present methods have a good accuracy. Influences of various combinations of refractive index and boundary emissivities on the temperature distributions and dimensionless radiative heat flux are also investigated.     

Effects of polarization on radiation absorption in one-dimensional semitransparent slab exposed to collimated irradiation

The internal distribution of radiative absorption in one-dimensional semitransparent slab exposed to collimated irradiation is determined by the ray tracing method, and the detailed computation formulae for the distribution of radiative absorption are deduced. It is found that the ray will be polarized by specular reflection of slab boundaries even if the collimated irradiation is unpolarized, and the extent of polarization increases with the internal reflection times. The effects of polarization on the radiative absorption are analyzed and the radiative absorption distributions are compared with those obtained from the case in which the effects of polarization are omitted. The results show that the large differences between reflectances of perpendicular and parallel polarized components are the main causes resulting in errors of radiative absorption distribution. The polarization of incident beam has significant influences on the radiative absorption. Even for an unpolarized beam irradiated near Brewster's angle, omitting the effects of polarization will result in large errors, and the errors increase with the refractive index.     

Effect of reflecting modes on combined heat transfer within an anisotropic scattering slab

Under various interface reflecting modes, different transient thermal responses will occur in the media. Combined radiative-conductive heat transfer is investigated within a participating, anisotropic scattering gray planar slab. The two interfaces of the slab are considered to be diffuse and semitransparent. Using the ray tracing method, an anisotropic scattering radiative transfer model for diffuse reflection at boundaries is set up, and with the help of direct radiative transfer coefficients, corresponding radiative transfer coefficients (RTCs) are deduced. RTCs are used to calculate the radiative source term in energy equation. Transient energy equation is solved by the full implicit control-volume method under the external radiative-convective boundary conditions. The influences of two reflecting modes including both specular reflection and diffuse reflection on transient temperature fields and steady heat flux are examined. According to numerical results obtained in this paper, it is found that there exits great difference in thermal behavior between slabs with diffuse interfaces and that with specular interfaces for slabs with big refractive index.     

Coupling heat conduction and radiative transfer

A method to compute combined heat conduction and radiative transfer in a semitransparent medium is proposed. The heat equation is solved by an implicit finite-difference scheme and the radiation is simulated using a ray-tracing method. Stability and convergence for the coupling of both methods is shown. The crucial point for ray-tracing as well as for discrete-ordinate methods is the selection of the transfer directions and their associated weights. Using a model problem different direction sets proposed in the literature are compared with respect to their accuracy and the computational effort.