Computational radiative transport in complex geometries using orthogonal coordinates

Abstract Radiative heat transport involving complex geometries is an important area of investigation. The formulation of the transport phenomenon is more involved and consideration of the proper treatment of the irregular geometry becomes necessary for accurate estimation of heat transfer rates. Therefore, the present study focuses on the modeling and the solution of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) in an absorbing, emitting, and isotropically scattering, participating media for complex geometries using the body-fitted coordinates. The RTE in an orthogonal coordinate system is formulated and is then numerically solved in conjunction with a numerically generated, body-fitted, curvilinear coordinate system. The geometries are considered to be opaque and, in the analysis, both the radiative as well as the non-radiative equilibrium cases are considered. The formulation is validated through the previously published results. Notable agreement is observed between the results and those reported earlier for different complex geometries and various properties of the participating media.