Thermo-fluid

MEC 2920

Chapter 18

Heat Transfer by Radiation

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Basic Concepts
– An object (initially at temperature Ts) separated from its surroundings (at
temperature Tsur < Ts) by vacuum (no heat transfer by conduction or
convection) will eventually cool down (its internal energy will decrease) and
come into thermal equilibrium with its surroundings (Ts = Tsur)
– The cooling down of the object results from the emission of thermal radiation
from its surface.
– Thermal radiation is the rate of energy emitted by matter as a result of the
thermally excited conditions (states) within the matter.
– Radiation may be viewed as propagation of photons (quanta of energy) or
propagation of electromagnetic waves.
– Such propagation has
• Wave length, 
• Frequency, 
• Speed, c = speed of light)

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Thermal radiation ( = 0.1 – 100 m)
• Visible range ( = 0.4 – 0.7 m)

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Spectral Distribution of Thermal Radiation
• Thermal radiation emitted by a surface encompasses a range of wavelengths.
• The magnitude of the radiation varies with wavelength, that is thermal radiation is
spectral
• Emitted radiation consists of a continuous, nonuniform distribution of
monochromatic (single-wavelength) components.
• Both the magnitude of the radiation at any wavelength and the spectral
distribution vary with the nature and temperature of the emitting surface.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Directional Distribution of Thermal Radiation
• Thermal radiation is directional by nature (its magnitude for a certain wave length
is not the same in all directions emanating from a point on the surface).
• If the directional distribution of emitted radiation is uniform in all directions, we refer
to this distribution as diffuse and to the surface as a diffuse emitter.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Assumptions for Radiation Analysis
– In the analysis of most engineering thermal systems, we may make the
following simplifying assumptions:
• Emission is a surface phenomena (only contributed by the surface not the volume)
• The medium separating the surfaces exchanging radiation is nonparticipating
(neither absorbs nor scatters surface radiation, and emits no radiation).
• All surfaces are diffuse emitters.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Blackbody Radiation
– An ideal surface having the following properties is called a blackbody:
• A blackbody absorbs all incident radiation, regardless of wavelength and direction.
• At any temperature and wavelength, no surface can emit more energy than a blackbody.
• Although the radiation emitted by a blackbody is a function of wavelength and temperature, it
is independent of direction. That is, the blackbody is a diffuse emitter.
– The blackbody (perfect absorber and diffuse emitter) serves as a standard against which
the radiative properties of actual surfaces are compared.
– No real surface has precisely the properties of a blackbody.
– The closest approximation is achieved by an isothermal cavity

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• The Planck Distribution
– The spectral distribution of blackbody
emission, which was first determined
by Max Planck, has the form

– Properties of Plank Distribution:

• Emitted radiation varies
continuously with wavelength.
• At any wavelength the magnitude
of the emitted radiation increases
with increasing temperature.
• Radiation is concentrated in a
spectral region which depends on
temperature. (more radiation at
shorter wavelengths as the
temperature increases.)

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Wien’s Displacement Law
• The blackbody spectral distribution has a maximum and that the corresponding
wavelength max depends on temperature.
• The nature of this dependence is obtained by differentiating the Planks emission
distribution with respect to  and setting the result equal to zero.
• So, we get the Wien’s displacement law

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– The Stefan–Boltzmann Law
• Substituting the Planck distribution, Eq. 18.7, into Eq. 18.1, the total emissive power of
a blackbody, Eb, may be expressed as

• The result obtained from performing the integration is termed the Stefan–
Boltzmann law having the form

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Quantities and Processes of Radiation
– Emissive Power
• The spectral emissive power, E (W/m2.m), is the rate at which radiation of
wavelength  is emitted in all possible directions from a surface, per unit surface area
and per unit wavelength interval d about 
• The total emissive power, E (W/m2), is the rate at which radiation is emitted per
unit area in all possible directions and at all possible wavelengths.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Surface Emission: Emissivity
• The spectral radiation emitted by a real surface differs from the Planck spectral
distribution
• The spectral emissivity, ε, is defined as the ratio of the spectral emissive power of a
surface to that of a blackbody at the same temperature and for the same wavelength

• The total emissivity, ε, is defined as the ratio of the total emissive power of a
surface to that of a blackbody at the same temperature

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Irradiation
• The incident radiation represents a radiative flux, termed the irradiation, which
encompasses radiation incident from all directions
• The spectral irradiation, G (W/m2.m), is the rate at which radiation of
wavelength  is incident on a surface, per unit area of the surface and per unit
wavelength interval d about 
• The total irradiation, G (W/m2), represents the rate at which radiation is incident
per unit area from all directions and at all wavelengths.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• If radiation is intercepted by a semitransparent medium (a medium in which
radiation not reflected is absorbed or transmitted) such as a glass plate, portions of
the spectral irradiation may be reflected (ref ), absorbed (abs), and transmitted (tr).
• From a radiation balance on the medium, it follows that

• There is no net effect of the reflected or transmitted radiation on the medium, while
the absorbed radiation increases the internal energy of the medium.
• For an opaque medium, G,tr = 0, and the spectral irradiation is either absorbed or
reflected at the surface of the medium.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Absorptivity
• The spectral absorptivity, (), is the fraction of irradiation absorbed by a medium

• The total absorptivity, , is the fraction of total irradiation absorbed by a surface

– Reflectivity
• The spectral reflectivity, (), is the fraction of the spectral irradiation that is
reflected from the surface

• The total reflectivity, , is then defined as

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Transmissivity
• The spectral transmissivity (), is defined as the fraction of the spectral irradiation
that is transmitted through the medium

• The total transmissivity, , is then defined as

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Radiosity
• Radiosity accounts for the radiant energy leaving a surface.
• The spectral radiosity, J (W/m2.m), is the rate at which radiation of wavelength 
leaves a unit area of the surface, per unit wavelength interval d about 

• The total radiosity, J (W/m2), associated with the entire spectrum can be expressed
as the integral of the spectral quantities

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Surface Energy Balances with Radiation Processes
• The surface energy balance implies for opaque surface

qnet= Leaving – incident= (E+Gref)-G

= E – (G – Gref)

• The surface energy balance for an opaque surface (no transmission) can be written
in an alternative form in terms of the total radiosity and total irradiation

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Radiation Property Interrelationships
– Surface Radiation Balances.
• From the radiation balance on a semitransparent medium, including the
processes of reflection, absorption, and transmission, it follows that

• and for the total properties over the entire spectrum,

• If the medium is opaque, there is no transmission. Hence, absorption and

reflection are the surface processes for which the properties on a spectral
and total basis are related as

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• For a surface that emits and reflects uniformly, called a diffuse surface,
the spectral emissivity and absorptivity are equal

• If either of the following conditions is satisfied:
– The irradiation corresponds to emission from a blackbody at the
surface temperature T, in which case G() = E,b(, T) and G = Eb(T),
or
– The surface is gray, that is,  and ε are independent of 
• Then it follows by inspection that


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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• Summary of Relations between Surface Properties
– ε =  : holds for diffuse conditions associated with the surface
and/or radiation processes. In this course we deal exclusively with
diffuse conditions.
– ε ≠  while ε =  : This surface is termed as spectrally selective.
– ε =  : applies when any type of surface is in thermal equilibrium with
its surroundings.
– ε =  : applies when the surface has no spectral variation in the
wavelength region of importance so that ε =  = ε =  = constant.
Such a surface is called a diffuse-gray surface.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
• The View Factor
– The view factor (also called a configuration or shape factor) accounts for the
geometrical features for the radiation exchange between two surfaces.
– The view factor Fij is defined as the fraction of the radiation leaving surface i
that is intercepted by surface j.
– For the arbitrarily oriented surfaces Ai and Aj

– Reciprocity Relation
• The view factors Fij and Fji are related by

• This relation is a consequence of the diffuse nature of the radiation from the
surfaces.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer
– Summation Rule
• For surfaces forming an enclosure, the summation rule can be applied

3 2
For three surface enclosure:
F11+F12+F13=1
F21+F22+F23=1 1
F31+F32+F33=1
A1* F12=A2 *F21
A2 *F23 = A3*F32
A1*F13=A3*F31
– A concave surface can see itself and Fii is nonzero.
– However, a plane or convex surface can not see itself, hence Fii = 0.
– Analytical solutions for Fij have been obtained for many common surface
arrangements and are available in equation, graphical, and tabular forms.

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Heat Transfer

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920

F(3+1)2=1  A(3+1) F(3+1)2=A2 F2(3+1)

F2(3+1)= A(3+1)/A2 F(3+1)2
= ½ F(3+1)2 = 0.5
F22 + F2(3+1)=1  F22=0.5
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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Blackbody Radiation Exchange
We develop first the relation for the net exchange between two black surfaces, and
then extend the treatment for determining the net radiation from a black surface in an
enclosure.

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space or geometrical radiative resistance

Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920

For an enclosure with three surfaces maintained at different temperatures, the

net rate of radiation from surface A1 is due to exchange with the remaining
surfaces (A2, A3) and can be expressed as

3 2

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920

The electrical power required to operate the furnace under steady-state conditions, Pe,
must balance the heat transfer from the furnace opening. The only heat transfer is by
radiation through the opening, which may be treated as the hypothetical surface of area A3,
which completes the furnace interior enclosure (A1, A2, A3). Because the surroundings are
large, radiation exchange between the furnace opening and the surroundings may be treated
by approximating the surface A3 as a blackbody at T3 =Tsur 33
Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920

q3=q31+q32
-q3=-q31-q32
=q13+q23

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Exchange Between Diffuse-Gray Surfaces in an Enclosure

qi is the net rate of radiation leaving surface i

This resistance represents a diffuse-gray surface; if the surface were black, this resistance
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would not appear.
Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Exchange Between Diffuse-Gray Surfaces in an Enclosure

Space Radiative Resistance

Consider radiation exchange between two of the surfaces in the enclosure

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Radiation Exchange Between Diffuse-Gray Surfaces in an Enclosure

the net rate of radiation transfer from surface A1 (q1) is equal to the sum of the radiation
exchange with the other surfaces in the enclosure

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920 Two-Surface Enclosure
the net rate of radiation transfer from surface 1, q1, must equal the net rate
of radiation transfer to surface 2, q2

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Thermo-fluid
MEC 2920

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