Chapter 6 RADIATION HEAT TRANSFER

Heat transfer from a body by radiation does not need a temperature driving force or a
medium. However, radiation heat exchange between two bodies at different
temperatures always results in a net transfer of heat energy from the body at a higher
temperature to the other at a lower temperature.

Thermal radiation is emitted by a body in the form of electromagnetic waves. All bodies
around us emit radiation, the intensity of which depends upon the temperature and a
few other characteristics of the body.
1. BASIC CONCEPTS OF RADIATION FROM A SURFACE
(b) specular reflection, and (c) diffuse reflection.
1.1 Blackbody Radiation
The fundamental laws and relations for radiation
have been developed for surfaces on the basis of the
concept of a blackbody. A blackbody is a surface that
has the following properties:
(i)A blackbody completely absorbs the incident
radiation irrespective of its wavelength. A blackbody
is “black” because it does not reflect any radiation.
(ii)A blackbody is a perfect emitter. No other surface
can emit more radiation than a blackbody provided
they are at the same temperature. The emissivity of a
blackbody is taken as  = 1.
(iii)Emission from a blackbody occurs in all possible
directions. A blackbody is a perfectly diffuse emitter.
Fig. 6.3 A cavity approaching blackbody behaviour-repeated
reflections at the wall.
1.2 Planck's Law

equation for monochromatic emisssive power or spectral emissive power Eb of a

blackbody as a function of wavelength of radiation (the subscript b means black, and 
refers to the wavelength of the monochromatic radiation). The term monochromatic refers
to a radiation consisting of electromagnetic waves of a single wavelength. We define the
monochromatic emissive power Eb as the amount of radiant energy emitted by a surface
per unit area, per unit time and per unit wavelength. Its unit is W/m2 m.

Putting c = 2.998  108 m/s, h = 6.6256  10-34 J s, kB = 1.3805  10-23 J/K, we get K1 = 3.743 
108 W(m)4/m2 and K2 = 1.4387  104 m K
Eb is the monochromatic emissive power of a blackbody
 is the wavelength of the monochromatic radiation emitted
T is the absolute temperature of the blackbody
h is the Planck's constant
kB is the Boltzmann constant
c is the velocity of light
K1 = 2c2h
K2 = hc/k
• Any of the curves corresponding to a
particular temperature has a maximum (at
 = max, say), and the energy of the
emitted radiation is rather concentrated in
a region around the wavelength max.
• The peak of the curve is shifted towards
the shorter wavelength side as the
temperature increases.
• The value of max decreases as the
temperature of the blackbody increases.
This means that a blackbody at a higher
temperature emits more of short
wavelength radiation.
• For example, the sun (which may be
considered as a blackbody at a surface
temperature of about 5800 K) emits
maximum amount of radiant energy
around the visible range. But the earth
with an average surface temperature of
around 300 K emits radiant energy in the
infrared range.
1.3 Wein's Displacement Law
It can be deduced from Eq. (6.2) that the wavelength max corresponding to the peak
of the  vs. Eb plot (Fig. 6.4), is inversely proportional to the temperature of the
blackbody. Or, in other words, Equation (6.3) is called the Wein's displacement law.

max T = constant = 2898 m K

1.4 The Stefan-Boltzmann Law

The Planck's distribution, Eq. (6.2), gives the monochromatic emissive power of a
blackbody. It is rather simple to determine the total emissive power of a blackbody
over the entire spectrum by integration of Eb. If the total emissive power (also called
the hemispherical total emissive power) of a blackbody is denoted by Eb (omitting
the other subscript, ), then
 Here  [= (4/15)(K1K24)] is called the Stefan-Boltzmann constant.

Putting the values of K1 and K2 as obtained earlier, we get  = 5.669  10-8 W/m2 K4

The accepted experimental value

 = 5.729 x 10-8 W/m2 K4

Example 6.1 A small blackbody has a total hemispherical emissive power of 4 kW/m2.
Determine its surface temperature and the wavelength of emission maximum. In
which range of the spectrum does this wavelength fall?
If Fb(0-) is the fraction of the energy emitted by a blackbody as radiation of wavelength
in the range 0-, then
1.5 Kirchhoff's Law
1. Gray Body

A gray body is defined as a substance whose emissivity and absorptivity are

independent of wavelength. Thus a gray body is also an ideal body, but its  and 
values are both less than unity.
1. RADIATION INTENSITY OF A BLACKBODY
The spectral intensity is defined as the rate of emission of radiant energy in a particular
direction per unit area of the emitting surface normal to this direction (i.e. projected area),
per unit wavelength , per unit solid angle around this direction. We denote it by Ib, where
the subscript  means that the spectral intensity is a function of wavelength, and the
subscript b implies black. It has the unit of W/(m2)(m)(sr), where “sr” is steradian, the unit
of solid angle.
where d3Qb is the rate of radiant energy emission from the small area dA in the
direction r covering a solid angle d for the interval of wavelength d. Note that d3
implies that it is a third order differential term, proportional to the product of three first
order terms dA, d and d.

The proportionality constant Ib is called the spectral

radiation intensity of the blackbody dA and has the unit
W/(m2)(m)(sr), as stated before. The total intensity Ib can
be determined by integrating the spectral intensity over the
entire range of wavelength. Thus, we have
6.3 SPECTRAL EMISSIVE POWER OF A BLACKBODY OVER A HEMISPHERE
6.4 RADIATIVE HEAT EXCHANGE BETWEEN SURFACES-THE VIEW FACTOR

The fraction of the total radiant energy that is emitted by the surface i and is
intercepted by the surface j is called the view factor or configuration factor or shape
factor. We denote the view factor by Fij, where the subscript i refers to the emitting
surface and j the absorbing or intercepting surface. It is to be noted that the radiation
intercepted by the surface j will be fully absorbed if j is a blackbody.
dij = dAjcosj/r2

Qi = Ai Ebi = Ai  Ibi
Ai Fij = Aj Fji
6.5 VIEW FACTOR ALGEBRA
In the case of a blackbody enclosure (Fig. 6.15) having N number of surfaces or walls, the
radiation emitted by any surface, for example, surface-1, may be incident on any of the
surfaces including itself (because, if a surface is concave, it can see itself). So,

F11 + F12 + F13 + . . . + F1N = 1

A simple example of radiation exchange in an enclosure formed by two concentric spherical
surfaces
Now we shall show that for an N-walled enclosure, some of the view factors may be
determined from a knowledge of the rest. There is a total of N2 view factors which may be
represented in the matrix form given below. What is the total number of equations or
relations at our disposal for the determination of the view factors? Equation (6.29), when
written for i = 1, 2, ..., N provides N number of equations. Considering the reciprocity
relation, Eq. (6.24), for the N-walled enclosures, we have N(N- 1)/2 equations in the view
factors [How? For a given i, we have N - 1 values of j. Now i may be varied from 1 to N. So
there are N(N - 1) equations. But each equation occurs twice. Therefore, the actual number
of equations is N(N - 1)/2].
Consider an enclosure consisting of a
hemisphere of diameter D and a flat surface of
the same diameter. Determine the relevant view
factors.
What does [Q12]net mean physically? It means the net
rate of gain of radiation by body-2 because of its
radiative interaction with body-1.
Now let us consider radiation heat exchange in an enclosure, assuming the walls to be diffuse
gray.
A re-radiating surface is one which radiates the entire amount of radiation that it receives
from other surfaces. At steady state there is no net radiation absorption or net radiation
emission at the re-radiating surface. In other words, the irradiation G i and the radiosity Ji
are equal for this type of surface, and Qi,net = 0 [see Eq. (6.37)]. A re-radiating surface is
functionally adiabatic. Well insulated surfaces like those of furnace walls are sometimes
assumed to be re-radiating.
The radiation network diagram for a five-surface enclosure consisting of three active
surfaces (designated 1, 2, and 3) and two re-radiating surfaces (designated 4 and 5) is
shown in Fig. 6.21
6.8 RADIATION SHIELD
A radiation shield is a barrier wall of low emissivity placed between two walls in order to
reduce the exchange of radiation between them. Radiation shields do not add or remove
any energy from the system. They essentially put additional ‘resistances’ to transfer of
radiant energy.
6.9 RADIATION COMBINED WITH CONDUCTION AND CONVECTION