Numerical Determination of Radiative View Factors Using Ray Tracing

A peer-reviewed research paper published in Volume 132, Issue 7 of the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer.

Abstract

A ray-tracing method is presented for numerically determining radiative view factors in complex three-dimensional geometries. This method uses a set of “primitive” shapes to approximate the required geometry together with a Monte Carlo simulation to track the fate of randomized rays leaving each surface. View factors were calculated for an operational fiber drawing furnace using both numerical integration and ray-tracing methods. Calculated view factor profiles were essentially identical above a ray density of 10^5 per unit area. Run times for the ray-tracing method were considerable longer, although the setup time to describe a new geometry is very short and essentially independent of system complexity.

Links

• Numerical Determination of Radiative View Factors Using Ray Tracing
• AMSE Journal of Heat Transfer