Finite Volume Method for Radiation Heat Transfer

by

Yashasvi Giridhar

(Roll No. 2012260)

Krishan Khaldania

(Roll No. 2012122)

Supervisor

Dr. Goutam Dutta

Course Code: ME307b
Computational Fluid Dynamics

Mechanical Engineering

PDPM
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING, JABALPUR

November 2014
 Abstract

A finite volume method for radiation heat transfer is implemented in this study for a
non-scattering, absorbing, emitting media in black enclosures. The control volumes and
control angles are used in a structured orthogonal computational grid to evaluate the
intensity field in a 2D black enclosure. Test results indicate good accuracy obtained from
the numerical scheme and those predicted in previous literature.
Nomenclature
A Cell face area vector
g Geometric factor
I Radiation intensity
Sh source term, RTE source function
SC constant part of source term
SP coefficient part of source term
T temperature
a coefficient for discretized equation
b constant term for discretized equation
b vector of all b terms in linear system
k thermal conductivity
s direction vector
Ω solid angle
∆ prefix to indicate a difference or an extent
δ prefix to indicate a difference or an extent
θ polar angle
κ absorption coefficient
ω solid angle
φ azimuthal angle
σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant
v volume of cell
Subscripts
b blackbody
e east face
E east cell neighbor
f face
i direction
n north face
N north cell neighbor
nb number of cell neighbors
P principal cell
s south face
S south cell neighbor
w west face
W west cell neighbor

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 Superscripts
* Dimensionless quantity
0 Current iterate value

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Introduction
Radiative transfer is a discipline that is practiced in many fields of physics and engi-
neering. Although it stands among conduction and convective modes of heat transfer,
it has wider applications and is difficult to study. All bodies emit thermal radiations
above the absolute zero, the study of radiative transfer forms a basis of all heat transfer
phenomenon. Despite advanced studies having been made in the analytical studies for
this mode of heat transfer, the numerical solutions to various heat transfer problems pose
a challenge owing to the high nonlinearities inherent the physics involved.
Literatures reveal various methods proposed that serve as solutions to several radiation
heat transfer problems, these include Monte Carlo, Zonal, Ray Tracing, Flux and Discrete
Ordinates Methods but none is fully satisfactory for this purpose except in optically dense
medium where the diffusion approximation applies.
There exists a control volume approach, termed the Finite Volume Method (FVM)
for radiative transfer presented by Chai et.al. [1].
This approach has proved efficient in solving several benchmark problem put forward
in the study of thermal radiation. The conservative nature of this method allows for its
use in multimode heat transfer problems with the radiative transfer equation (RTE). This
exercise requires a spatial discretisation for the two coupled equations viz. the energy
equation and the RTE. This Finite Volume Method enjoys varied uses in computational
heat, mass and momentum transfer alongside the newer radiation heat transfer.
The objective of this study is to explore these applications and test its validity pre-
dicted by previous researchers. In this report is presented a methodology, approach and
results for the coupled transport modeling of energy by radiation and conduction in a
rectangular domain using the control volume approach. The medium is assumed to be a
homogenous, absorbing emitting gas with no scattering present. The domain is uniformly
discretised with rectangular cells and a control angle approach is utilized for modeling
the different directions of the intensity radiations incident at the nodes.

Formulation of the Discretization Equation

The formal equation of the transfer can be written as [4]:

dI(r, ŝ)
= β(r)I(r, ŝ) + S(r, ŝ) (1)
ds
where the extinction coefficient and the source function are

β(r) = κ(r) + σ(r) (2)

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 Z
σ(r)
S(r, ŝ) = κ(r)Ib (r, ŝ) + I(r, ŝl )φ(ŝl , ŝ)dΩl (3)
4π 4π
It is clear from equations above that the intensity depends on the spatial position and
angular direction. For spatial discretisation, the usual control volume method is applied
however, for the angular directions a method presented by Raithby [2] is used-where the
complete angular directions are discretised into control angles.
Taking Nθ × Nφ = M control angles and following the control volume discretisation
as shown, we obtain the final discretised domain for our study. For the general control

Figure 1: Control volume and control angles chosen by Chai et.al.[1] Similar discretisa-
tions were adopted in this study

volume and a control angle the following formulation is used:

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X Z
l
Ii ∆Ai (ŝl .n̂l )dΩl = (−βI l + S l )∆v∆Ωl (4)
i=1 ∆Ωl

ŝ = (sin θ cos φ)eˆx + (sin θ sin φ)eˆy + (cos θ)eˆz (5)

Note that as the problem considered in this study does not take into account the medium
being scattering, the source term and extinction term remain trivial no modifications [3]
are required. Solving for the Cartesian coordinate grid the basis vectors are taken in x,
y and z directions.
Following a step scheme to relate the face intensity values to the nodal intensities we
write:
l l l
Ae Dce Ie + Aw Dcw l
Iwl + An Dcn Inl + As Dcs
l l
Is = (−βp Ipl + Spl )∆vp ∆Ωl (6)

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 Z
l
Dce = (ŝl .nˆe )dΩ
l
Z∆Ω
l
Dcw = (ŝl .nˆw )dΩ
Z∆Ωl
l
Dcn = (ŝl .nˆn )dΩ
Z∆Ωl
l
Dcs = (ŝl .nˆs )dΩ (7)
Z∆Ωl
l
∆Ω = dΩ
∆Ωl

Ae = Aw = ∆y
An = As = ∆x
∆vp = ∆x∆y
With the control angle terms coming into effect via the coefficients as , an , ae and aw .
This treatment simply solves for the intensity at the points of the medium based on the
temperature values within the domain.
The temperature terms are taken care of using the energy equations shown below:

∂ ∂T ∂ ∂T
(k )+ (k ) + Sh = 0 (8)
∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y
This equation accounts for the conductive and radiative heat transfer in the medium due
to intensity difference at every node. It is further discretised as:
X
Sh = κ( ∆Ωi Iip − 4σTp4 ) (9)
i

Due to non linear nature of the energy equation source term, it needs to be linearised
following the treatment presented by Patankar [5], we may write,

dSh
Sh = Sh0 + |T 0 (T − T 0 ) (10)
dT

Boundary Conditions
In this study, a problem consisting of absorbing-emitting medium maintained at a con-
stant temperature Tg . The black, square enclosure is like that shown in Fig 2. And has
cold walls kept at 0 K.
The calculation domain is discretised into 20 × 20 uniform control volumes in the x
and y directions, respectively. The angular discretisations used are: 1 × 4 and 2 × 8
control angles with uniform ∆θ and ∆φ in the theta and phi directions, respectively for
κ = 10.

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Figure 2: The schematic for the isothermal absorbing emitting gas problem. The lengths
of the enclosure are taken as unit lengths and solved for two values of κ

For the optically thinner problem (κ = 0.1) we use finer angular discretisation with
1 × 12 and 2 × 24 control angles with uniform ∆θ and ∆φ in the θ and φ directions.
These are the same control angles used by Chai et.al.[1] in their presentation of the
FVM.

Solution Algorithm
The solution procedure followed is an iterative method. The intensity equation is solved
iteratively for every node along a given control angle direction then the respective source
term for the energy equation is calculated based on the directional intensities obtained
at the grid. The step wise algorithm is as follows:

• Guess field intensity and temperature at all points within the medium and the
appropriate boundary conditions

• Solve the intensity discretised equation for the control volumes in a marching order
for all control angle directions.

• Integrate directional intensities over sphere (hemisphere) to find total intensity field

• Pass intensity field to energy equation source term, and solve for temperature using
the FVM on energy equation

• Return to the intensity fields (RTE) with new values of temperature & blackbody
intensity

• Repeat the procedure till convergence is achieved

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Results and Conclusions
The results were obtained for the intensity field within the enclosure. The wall tempera-
tures and the center node temperature were taken as the temperature defined boundary
conditions. The results were compared with the solution obtained from the general pur-
pose algorithm developed by Chai [6] that gives the result using the FVM applied to the
sample problem taken here:
As can be seen from the Fig 3 below, the solution for the intensity field generated
by the solver mimics the model solution produced by the FVM solver of Chai to a good
extent.

Figure 3: Shows the intensity distribution in the enclosure for κ=10 as generated by the
RAT program (left) and the solver (right)

It is worth mentioning that the RAT solver proceeds in a fashion remarkably different
from that of the solver algorithm used in this study in terms of the upwind treatment of
relating the intensities at the faces with that at the nodes.
Due to the use of the stable yet inaccurate step scheme the solution generated over
predicts the intensities and consequently the heat flux values at the boundaries. This
error can be corrected by using another diamond scheme which follows a second order
accurate scheme but is prone to instabilities due to recurring negative intensities.

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Bibliography

[1] Chai, J. C., Lee, H. S., Patankar, S. V., Finite Volume Method for Radiation Heat
Transfer, Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer AIAA, Vol. 8 No.3, July-Sept.
1994, 419-425

[2] Raithby, G. D., Chui, E. H., A Finite-Volume Method for Predicting aa Radiant Heat
Transfer in Enclosures With Participating Media, Journal of Heat Transfer, ASME,
May 1990, Vol. 112/415-423

[3] Chai, J. C., Lee, H. S., Patankar, S. V., Improved Treatment of Scattering Using the
Discrete Ordinates Method, Transactions of ASME,February 1994, Vol. 116, 260-263

[4] Seigel, R., Howell, J. R., Thermal Radiation Heat Transfer, 3rd edition, Hemisphere
Publishing Corporation, New York

[5] Patankar, S.V., Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow, Hemisphere Publishing
Corporation, New York, 1980

[6] Chai, J.C., RAT, Version 1.0, User Manual