Gas Radiation

MEL 725
Power-Plant Steam Generators (3-0-0)
Dr. Prabal Talukdar
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
IIT Delhi
Radiation in absorbing-emitting
media
When a medium is transparent to radiation,
radiation propagating through such a media
remains unchanged
However gases such as CO, NO, CO2, SO2,
H2O and various hydrocarbons absorb and emit
radiation over certain wavelength regions called
absorption bands
We will discuss a very simple analysis of
radiation exchange in an absorbing and emitting
medium, exchange between a body of hot gas
and its black enclosure
 Beers Law
If Io is the intensity of radiation at the source and I is the
observed intensity after a given path, then optical depth is
defined by the following equation:
I S

= exp (s)ds

Io
0

I / Io = e
Extinction coefficient is a function of
temperature T, pressure P,
composition of the material
(concentration Ci of the i th
components)
and wavelength of incident radiation
s
Characterization of Participating Media

Absorption: attenuation of intensity

Emission: augmentation of intensity
Scattering
In-scattering: augmentation of intensity
Out-scattering: attenuation of intensity
 Equation of Radiative Tranfer

Increase in Intensity of radiation per unit length

along the direction of propagation is
dI (s)
ds
dI (s) emission per absorption per
=
ds unit volume unit volume
dI (s)
= I b (T ) I (s)
ds

The boundary condition for this equation is I (s) = I (0) at s = 0

 Transmissivity, Absorptivity and
Emissivity
Solution of Radaitive Transfer Equation with the
assumption that and Ib(T) are constant
everywhere in the medium, gives

I (s) = I (0)e s + (1 e s )I b (T )
I (L) = I (0)e L + (1 e L )I b (T )
At the boundary surface
S = L, intensity will be

This is due to external Self emission

irradiation
 Negligible emission

If the emission of radiation by the medium is

negligible in comparison to the contribution to the
externally incident radiation, we get Ib(T) = 0
and then the solution becomes,
I ( L ) = I ( 0) e L

Then the spectral transmissivity

I ( L)
= = e L
I ( 0)
 Spectral absorptivity
If the medium is non-reflecting, + = 1
And the spectral absorptivity L
over the path L is
= 1 e

When Kirchhoffs law is

applicable, the spectral
absorptivity is equal to
= 1 e L
spectral emissivity

For no externally incident I (L) = (1 e L )I b (T )

radiation,
 Absorption and Emission
Properties of Materials
Absorption and emission characteristics of
gases are quite different from those of solids
The absorption (or emission) of radiation by
gases does not take place continuously over the
entire wavelength spectrum; rather it occurs
over a large number of relatively narrow strips of
intense absorption (or emission)
In semitransparent solids, the absorption
spectrum is more or less continuous
Spectral Absorptivity
Radiation Exchange between a Gas
Body and its Black Enclosure
Assumption:
Entire gas body is isothermal
Enclosure wall is black
Consider a hemispherical body of gas at uniform
temperature Tg and walls are at temperature Tw
The intensity of spectral radiation I(L) striking the
surface element dA as a result of the emission of
radiation by the gas along the path L is determined from
kL
I (L) = I b (Tg )(1 e )
 Spectral Emissivity of Gas

The spectral radiative heat flux q because of

incident radiation from the entire hemisphere
2 / 2
q = I
=0 =0
( L) cos sin dd

= I b (T g )(1 e L )
L
= E b (T g )(1 e ) Spectral emissivity of gas
for the path length L

q = E b ( Tg )
 Mean Beam Length
The simple expression for the hemisphere of gas is not
applicable for other geometries
A concept of mean beam length is introduced for
engineering calculations
This is an equivalent path length L which represents the
average contributions of different beam lengths from the
gas body to the striking surface
In the absence of information available, mean beam
length is approximately calculated as
V
L 3.5
A
Where A=total surface area of the enclosure
and V = total volume of the gas
Chart for Equivalent path length
 Emissivity Charts

Hottel measured gas emissivity g and presented

emissivity charts for gases such as CO2, H20,
CO, ammonia, SO2, etc. as a function of
temperature and product term PiL, where Pi is
the partial pressure (in atmospheres) of gas i in
the gas mass and L is the beam length.
Charts
Calculation of Radiation exchange between a Gas
Body and Its enclosure

The net radiative heat exchange Q between

the gas mass at temperature Tg and its black
surroundings at temperature Tw is

Q = Qe Qa = A( g Tg
4
g Tw )
4
W
 Problem
A flue gas at Tg=1000K and total pressure PT = 2 atm
containing 10 percent water vapor by volume flows over
a tube bank arranged in an equilateral triangle array,
having a tube with Diameter D = 7.6 cm and a spacing S
= 2D. The tubes are maintained at a uniform temperature
Tw = 500K and considered black. Calculate the net
radiation heat exchange between the gas and the tubes
per square meter of tube wall surface