Numerical Method on Natural Convection and Radiation Heat Transfer with an Isotropic Scattering Medium

Abstract

The finite-volume method (FVM) for radiation heat transfer with a nonscattering medium is extended to an isotropic scattering medium, and this method is implemented in the fluid flow solver GTEA on hybrid grids. For comparison and validation, three test cases, a semicircle enclosure with a hole, a rhombic enclosure, and a square cavity, are chosen. All the results obtained by the present FVM agree very well with the numerical solutions in the references. Furthermore, the effects of the extinction coefficient and scattering albedo on the flow and temperature distribution are studied numerically in the cavity based on present approach. As the extinction coefficient increases from 0.2 to 5, the temperature gradient adjacent to the hot and cold walls gradually decreases at Ra = 10⁵, however, the temperature profiles become similar at Ra = 10⁶. For Ra = 10⁵, 10⁶, the scattering albedo affects the structures of the isotherm and streamline to some extent. As the scattering albedo increases, the convection heat transfer in the middle region of the hot wall increases, but the radiation heat transfer and the total radiation heat transfer along the hot wall decrease.