Radiative Heat Transfer

Engineering Calculations in Furnaces

Radiation
Incoming radiation to a solid surface is : Absorbed Reflected Transmitted Outgoing radiation from a solid surface consist of: Reflected radiation Emitted radiation

Most solids (except glass) are opaque e.g. non transparent

Arrangement or View Factors

All emitted radiation is not hitting the intended surface The fraction of the radiation from the roof hitting the floor depends on the dimensions For example in a 1 x 4 x 1 rectangle only 35% reaches the floor The mean beam length of the radiation path (2,1) is 1.24 not 1.0

Radiation in Gases
In addition to arrangement factors and emissivities of surfaces. When doing heat transfer through gaseous media you also need to calculate : Radiation or heat transmitted through the media Radiation re-emitted from the media (hot gases)

Transmission in Gases
The fraction fraction transmitted through an absorbing medium like a gas is tau(i,j) = exp{ - K*L(i,j)} Where K is the attenuation or extinction coefficient L(I,j) mean beam length from area i to area j
Getting complicated ? Not to worry it is done for you.

Gas Emissivity
Some molecules like H2O and CO2 absorb and re-emit radiation. Gas emissivities depends on composition, temperature and pressure in a complicated way.
Fortunately the program will handle these calculation for us.

Example
Let us calculate the heat hitting the bottom of a rectangular furnace 10 x 8 x 3 m. Temperature Tbottom =600*C and eb=0.6 Temperature and emissivity of the gas are given as Tg =1000degC and eg =0.21 The temperature of the roof (crown) 750*C ec=0.7 and the sides 700*C. To simply the calculation let us also assume that the refractory walls act as reradiators e.g. emissivity =0

Example 1
Thats it ! The radiation (heat) reaching bottom is 3045 kW or 3045 kJ/sec You can also see the viewing factors Actually the program can calculate both the gas temperature,wall temp and the emissivity of the gas.
SHOW DEMO Download zip file!

Example 2. Melting
Radiative HT report
Radioactive heat transfer from molten metal inside a furnace. Calculating heat transferred to molten surface. NB. All is done with a click of a mouse button.