Nonaxisymmetric radiative transfer in cylindrical enclosures

A finite-volume method for radiative transfer in cylindrical enclosures is presented. Angular redistribution terms in the equation of transfer are avoided by defining radiation directions in terms of angular coordinates measured with respect to Cartesian base vectors; this definition of radiation directions can result in control angles that overlap controlvolume faces, depending on the type of spatial and angular grids used in the azimuthal direction. A simple treatment far such control-angle overlaps is presented, which is also applicable to nonorthogonal curvilinear spatial coordinates. A comparison of the present procedure with other similar methods is given. Solutions are presented for axisymmetric transfer through a cylinder and nonaxisymmetric transfer through two- and three-dimensional annular sectors. Results show that the procedure produces reasonable solutions for transparent and participating media in axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric cylindrical enclosures.