Calculation of Radiative Heat Transfer in Combustion Systems

Abstract

Most practical combustion systems involve complex geometry configurations and CFD techniques used for the calculation of flow and combustion in such geometries use body-fitted non-orthogonal mesh systems. This paper reviews some of the currently available radiative heat transfer calculation techniques suitable for such CFD applications. The Monte Carlo method, the discrete transfer method, the YIX method, the discrete ordinates method and the finite volume method are discussed and some notable applications related to combustion problems are reviewed. Comparative results using all the methods outlined are presented for bench mark problems and their applicability to complex geometry situations are discussed. Radiative heat flux predictions for an S.I. engine simulation are presented to demonstrate the capability of the discrete transfer method in a pent-roof complex geometry combustion chamber. The paper also describes a ray based technique for the handling of turbulence-radiation interactions in combustion and its application is demonstrated in the prediction of a methane diffusion flame.

Quantitative model-based imaging of mid-infrared radiation from a turbulent nonpremixed jet flame and plume

“…utilized an extensive range of techniques such as radiation heat flux measurements [1], spectral radiation intensity measurements [2,3], stochastic time and space series analyses [2,3], conditional moment closure calculations [4], composition probability density function calculations [5,6], Monte Carlo simulations [7], and most recently large eddy simulations (LES) [8][9][10]. Progress on radiation transfer computations for turbulent reacting flows and combustion systems have been the focus of several review articles [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…Significant opportunities exist for improving radiation and combustion models for turbulent nonpremixed and partially premixed flames, building on the progress discussed in the cited references [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. The opportunities are supported partially by emerging imaging technologies (e.g.…”

Prediction of a Turbulent Non-Premixed Natural Gas Flame in a Semi-Industrial Scale Furnace using a Radiative Flamelet Combustion Model

“…This method of solution of the radiative transport equation in an emitting/absorbing and scattering medium has been specially developed for calculating radiation heat transfer in practical combustor geometries and has widely been used in a variety of combustors (see reviews in [51,52]). The DTM is computationally expedient and easy to apply to complex geometries and to any coordinate systems.…”

“…The transport equation describes the change in intensity of a ray passing through an absorbing and emitting medium at the mean temperature, T. Scattering due to the presence of soot particles is neglected in this study on the grounds that the experimental flame was non-luminous [37]. It should be noted that in previous flame calculations, particularly in practical combustor geometries, the effect of temperature and concentration fluctuations on radiation heat transfer has frequently been neglected due to the complexity associated with modelling the turbulence-radiation interaction [19,52,53], which involves highly non-linear coupling between fluctuations of radiation intensity and those of temperature and species concentrations [54]. This modelling element is not included in the present radiation calculation.…”

A Numerical Study of the Influence of Temperature Fluctuations in the Thermal Radiation Field

“…Nevertheless, the first numerical study was realized only in 1978 by Germano (1978), who had the sole interest to show the existence of turbulence-radiation interactions. Later, numerical studies on TRI consisted of solving the radiative transfer equation (RTE) directly using an experimental or imposed temperature field, this methodology is known as stochastic method (Kounalakis et al, 1988;Malalasekera et al, 2002;Coelho, 2004). Recently, the radiative transfer equation has been solved in a time averaged way, which consists of employing for the latter equation the same treatment used for time averaged mass, momentum and energy equations.…”