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Combined Radiation And Conduction Heat Transfer

Calculations Using Unstructured Grid
Liu Jing 1, 2Zhang Min 1John C. Chai2Xu Bin 1
1

School of Power Eng.Nanjing University of Science & TechnologyNanjing (210094)

School of Mechanical and Aero spacing Eng.Nanyang Tech. UniversitySingapore (639798)
Abstract

Coupled conduction and radiation heat transfer problems were solved using the based-cell and the finite
volume method (FVM) in the regions with the mediums. The combined heat transfer equations were
discretized in the unstructured meshes and the calculating programs were written. The radiative heat source
of the combined equation was treated specially. Meanwhile, from the relations of the governing equations
and the several of medium characters, the dimensionless numbers were obtained and computed using
unstructured quad grids in various parameters, such as, optical thickness 2, conduction-radiation
parameter N, and scattering albedo &.
Keywordsunstructured grid/meshradiative heat transferconduction heat transfer.

In this paper, the problems about radiation heat transfer combined conduction are presented. Some
auxiliary comments are also listed for completeness. This problem was studied by Modest [1], Chai and
Patankar[2] and Sparrow and Cass [3], just to name a few.

1. Governing Equations and Boundary Condation

1.1 Radiative Transfer Equation
The Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE) that governs the transfer of radiant energy across a gray
medium can be written as

&
dI ( r , s)
ds

&

&

&

E (r ) I (r , s) S R (r , s)

(1.1)

where the extinction coefficient E and the source function

S R are
&
&
N (r ) V s (r )
(1.2a)
&
&
&
& V s (r )
&
S R ( r , s) N ( r ) I b ( r )
I ( r , s c)d : c
(1.2b)

4S 4S
*
In equation (1.1) and equation (1.2), r and s are the position vector and the unit vector describing
&
E (r )

the radiation direction, respectively. Isotropic scattering is assumed in equation (1.2). Equation (1.1)
indicates that the radiant intensity I changes as it travels over distance ds. This is due to the attenuation
of intensity through absorption and outscattering, and the augmentation of intensity through gas
emission and inscattering of radiation from all directions.
Physically, the first term on the right-hand side of equation (1.1) represents the attenuation of
radiant energy due to absorption and outscattering as a radiation beam travels from point a to point b.
The second term describes the augmentation due to emission and inscattering of radiant energy. The
total attenuation or augmentation of radiant energy depends on two factors. These are (1) the relative
importance of absorption and scattering and (2) the strength of absorption and scattering. The first
factor is described by the scattering albedo Z. This factor is defined as

Z{

Vs
N Vs

-1-

Vs
E

(1.3a)

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from equation (1.3a), the scattering albedo for a purely absorbing medium is Z = 0, while Z is unity for
a purely scattering medium. The second factor is described by the optical thickness W. It is defined as

W { (N V s ) Lc
where

ELc

(1.3b)

Lc is a representative characteristic length of the problem considered.

1.2 Boundary Condition for the Radiative Transfer Equation

The radiant energy leaving an opaque diffuse surface consists of two components. These are the
emission due to the temperature of the surface and reflection of incoming intensities. Mathematically,
this can be written as

&
I (r , s)
where

&
&
H (r ) I b (r )

&

&
U (r )
I (r , sc) sc x n wall d:c

S scxn 0

(1.6)

n wall is the outward unit normal to the wall.

1.3 Radiative Heat Transfer Relations

In addition to the radiant intensity, a number of auxiliary quantities are used in this dissertation.
Two of these quantities are the incident radiation G and the radiative heat flux q. These are defined as

*
G (r )

I (r , s)d:

(1.7)

4S

*
q x (r )
*
q y (r )
*
q z (r )
where,

I (r , s)(s x n x )d:
*
I (r , s)(s x n y )d:
*
I (r , s)(s x n z )d:

(1.8a)
(1.8b)
(1.8c)

n x , n y , and n z are the unit vectors normal to the x = constant, y = constant, and z =

constant coordinate lines, respectively. The divergence of the heat flux is defined as

xq

N >4SI b (r ) G (r )@
*

(1.9)

where G is the incident radiation defined in equation (1.7). Equation (1.8) defines an important quantity
in combined mode heat transfer processes as well as in radiation dominated processes. In the absence
of heat sources/sinks, a system is in radiative equilibrium, if other modes of heat transfer are negligible.
Under such condition, x q

0 and the temperature of the medium can be obtained from equation

(1.9). In combined mode heat transfer processes,

x q is the radiation source term in the energy

equation.

2. Equations of Combined Radiation and Conduction

In this section we discuss the interaction between radiation and conduction in a stationary,
radiatively participating medium. The energy equation for simultaneous conduction and radiation in a
participating medium is

Uc p

wT
wt

x (kT ) x q R

(2.1)

For a two-dimensional, absorbing-emitting (but not scatting) gray medium, equation (2.1) can is simple
as

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o

x (kT ) x q R

(2.2)

For simplicity, we will assume that all properties are constant (i.e., thermal conductivity, absorption
coefficient and refractive index). Introducing the no dimensional variables and parameters

Ex, Y

T
, E
Tmax

T
g

G
4
4VTmax

, N

Vs
, Ib
E

Ey, S
N V s ,W
kE
3
4VTmax

Es

(2.3a)

ELc

(2.3b)

SI

, I*

VT 4
, eb
S

(2.3c)

4
VTmax

SI b

(2.3d)

In equation (2.3b) and (2.3c), the dimensionless temperature and the dimensionless intensity are

and

I*, respectively. The conduction-radiation parameter and the scattering albedo are N and Z, respectively.
In cantinas coordinate of two dimensional, by combining equation (2.2) and (2.3), we have

w wT

N
wX wX

dI *
dS

w wT

N
wY wY

I*

1 Z T4

Z
4S

1 Z T4

*c

d: c

(2.4a)

(2.4b)

4S

From equation (2.4a), the pure conduction with no heat generation problem is obtained by setting Z =
1.

3. Heat Conduction Combined Radiation in Black Quad

Figure 1 shows a 1 x 1 black enclosure considered. In this problem, the top wall is maintained at a
hot temperature Th, while the other walls are kept at a cold temperature Tc. The effect of the radiation
on the conduction heat transfer is examined in this problem. The scattering is assumed isotropic and the
walls are assumed black. The hot and cold wall temperatures are assigned the following values [4]

Th

1, Tc

Figure1. Geometry and meshes

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(3.1)

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A total of 400 quadrilateral control volumes (Fig.1) are used in this study. The angular space is
divided into 6 x 12 control angles in T and I directions, respectively. Figure 2 shows that the effect of
the optical thickness 2 on the temperature distribution for two scattering albedo and a fixed
conduction-radiation parameter N. It can be seen that the heat loss increases as the optical thickness 2
increases. As scattering increases (higher), the effect of optical thickness decreases.

0.8

0.9
0.8

0.

0.6

0.5

0 .4

0.7

0.
2

0.6

0.4

0.5
0.4

1
Z
W

0.3
0.2

1
Z
W

0.3
0.2

0.1
0

0 .6

0.8

0 .4

0.7

0.8

0.9

0 .6

0.1

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure2. Effect of optical thickness

Figure 3 shows the effect of scattering albedo. The pure conduction situation is obtained when it is
equal to one. It can be seen that the radiation increases heat loss leading to colder temperature. Figure 4
shows the effect of the conduction-radiation parameter N. For the situation considered, it could be seen
that the conduction-radiation parameter has very little influence on the heat transfer. It is noticed that,
as conduction becomes less important (decreasing N), the heat loss increases. This leads to colder
temperature.

0.8

0.9

0 .6

0.8

0 .4

0.7

0.2
Y

0.6
0.5
0.4

1
W
Z

0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Figure3. Effect of scattering albedo

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0.9

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0.8

0.9

0 .6

0.8

0 .4

0.7

0.2
Y

0.6
0.5
0.4

Z
W
1

0.3
0.2
0.1
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure4. Effect of conduction-radiation parameters

4. Closing Remarks
Coupled conduction and radiation heat transfer problems were solved using the based-cell and the
finite volume method (FVM) in the regions with the mediums. The combined heat transfer equations were
discretized in the unstructured meshes and the calculating programs were written. The radiative heat source
of the combined equation was treated specially. Meanwhile, from the relations of the governing equations
and the several of medium characters, the dimensionless numbers were obtained and computed using
unstructured quad grids in various parameters, such as, optical thickness 2, conduction-radiation
parameter N, and scattering albedo &. From the results, the basic trends of how the both modes of heat
transfer interact with each other can be obtained. While N=0.1 and &=0.1, the sensitivity of optical
thickness 2 is increase in the low temperature zone, and it is decrease when & is increase. While N=0.1
and 2=0.5, the sensitivity of scattering albedo & is stronger in the low temperature zone. While &=0.5
and 2=0.5, the effect of conduction-radiation parameter N is limitation.

Reference
1. Modest, M.F., Radiative Heat transfer, McGraw Hill Inc., New York, 1993, pp.713-715.
2. Chai, J.C. and Patankar, S.V., 2000, Finite-Volume Method for Radiation Heat Transfer, Advances in
Numerical Heat Transfer, Vol. 2, Chapter 4, Taylor & Francis.
3. +, E.M., 2, R.D. (+), R, (), d, --
, 1982, pp.270-283.
4. Zhang, M., Modeling of Radiative Heat Transfer and Diffusion Processes Using Unstructured Grid, PH.D.
Dissertation, Tennessee Technological University, USA, 2000, pp.65-88.

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