Analysis of Radiation Heat Transfer in Furnace

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

Test for Cooling Capacity of Furnace

Surface.

Complexity of Gas-Wall Radiation Process

Governing equation in a gas radiation

For gas radiation governing differential equation is known as
Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE)
The RTE for an absorbing, emitting, gray medium is

I
I Ib
S

Face 1

Face 5

n
North

Classification:
Basic models and their determinants
Based on quadrature set
Complex geometry of the furnace

Face 4

Face 3

West

z
s

South

Face 6

East

Face 2
L

Basic models for RTE in gas radiation

RTE

Optically Thin

Directional
Averaging
2-Flux
4-Flux
Multiflux
DOM

Self-absorbing

Differential
Approximation
Moment
ModifiedMoment
PN - Approx.

Optically Thick

Energy

Hybrid

Zone
MCM
Numerical
(FD, FV)

DTM
Ray Tracing
Radiation
Element

Radiation inside furnace

Types of radiation: Surface and volumetric radiation
Characterization of participating media: usually, the radiant energy is
scattered, absorbed and emitted by tiny suspended particles or gases like
CO2 and water vapor, such media are called participating media.
Gas radiation involved
Absorption: attenuation of intensity absorption coefficient
Emission: augmentation of intensity emission coefficient
Scattering scattering coefficient

Radiant heat transfer occur from the source (Flame) to sink (water
walls) in a furnace

Gas radiation-Governing equation

Assumptions:

Face 1

All six boundaries are diffuse and

gray
Absorbing, emitting, non scattering
gray medium
Same absorption coefficient at all
points

Face 5

n
North

Face 4

Face 3

West

z
s

South

Face 6

East

Face 2
L

Thermophysical properties e.g.

Co-ordinate system for cubic
density, specific heat, thermal
enclosure
conductivity and optical property
Governing
equation
for participating
media
like extinction
coefficient
are
I
(RTE):
constant.
I I b

S
Absorption coefficient = emission
coefficient
Where;
S is line of sight distance in the direction of propagation
of the radiant intensity I

Direction cosine in 2D geometry

y

m sin sin
m cos

Quad : ( m , m )
[1]:

( , )

[2]:
[3]:

(, )
(,)

[4]:

( ,)

RTE with consideration of direction cosine

I m
I m
I m
m
m
m
I m I b
x
y
z
Where Im radiation intensity

[4]

[3]

[1]

[2]

Boundary condition

At x = 0;
At x = L;

I I b
I I b

(1 )
w m ' m ' I m ' , m 0;

m ' 0

(1 )
w m ' m ' I m ' , m 0;

m ' 0

DOM with heat generation

Incident irradiation at the center
of each cell containing only gas

G Id
4

m ,m , m 0

wm I m m

(Heat generation per unit volume)

.q Q

Flame cell

.q 4T 4 I d 4T 4 G
4

4T 4 G Q

Temperature inside the

flame cell

T
4

0.25

Ib

Solution of RTE
The exact (analytical or numerical) solution of integrodifferential radiative transfer equation (RTE) is generally a
formidable task.
Although there have been a few attempts to formulate RTE
for non-isothermal rectangular enclosures .
Explicit solutions are only available for simplified
situations such as black walls and constant properties etc.
There is growing interest in approximate solutions for
furnace design and analysis.
The exact solutions even for these simplest systems are
used to serve as benchmarks against which the accuracy of
approximate solutions is tested.

Radiation heat transferred to furnace wall

4
Radiation heat transfer Qrad A eff T fl4 Twa
kW

Where eff is the emissivity of flame and water wall

system.

eff

Emissivity of PC flame

fl

wa

fl 1 e

kpS

1 1 fl 1 wa

S : Effective thickness of radiant (flame) layer. S 3.6

A
V is the volume of the gas and A is the enclosing surface area

K is the coefficient of radiant absorption

k k y rRO2 rH 2O

7.8 16r

ky

3.16

RO2

H2 0

rH 2O

1
p S

1
k h h 10c1c2
m.MPa

T fe
1 0.37

1000

1
m.MPa

Volume fraction of RO2 & H2O : rRO2 & rH2O

c1 : 1.0 for coal and 0.5 for wood

c2 : 0.1 for PC flame, 0.03 for Stoker flame.

kh

5990
2

fe

dh

h : Concentration of ash particles

dh : diameter of ash particles : 13 m for PC & 20 m for stoker.

1 3

Thermal Efficiency Factor,

If clean water wall is a perfect black body all radiation falling on it

will be absorbed.
Fouling (leads to drop in emissivity of the wall.
Water walls consists of tubes which generate an angular coefficient, x.
Angular coefficient varies with the location of water wall.
Thermal efficiency factor is defined as the fraction of incident
radiation absorbed by the tubes:
The average thermal efficiency factor is calculated as
n

x
i 1

Ai