Modeling and analysis of 3D radiative heat transfer in combustor

Abstract Compared with wall emission, gas thermal radiation is much more complicated because of its nongray and volumetric property. In this paper, a numerical method is established to calculate 3D radiative heat transfer in combustor by modelling radiative transfer as well as nongray radiative properties of combustion gases. Energy exchanges caused by thermal radiation and conduction are calculated and compared in a rectangular combustor, which shows the significant role of thermal radiation in heating fuel-air mixtures and prompting internal combustion reactions. Besides, radiative heat flux on the wall is also quite obvious although a non-contacting flow case, revealing the special challenges for thermal protections brought by radiant energy. Lastly, increasing the working pressure means much more participating species in radiative transfer process and the radiative effects will be also magnified. The numerical method in this paper provides a direct technique to analyze the role of thermal radiation in complex thermochemical reactions while the application case proves the necessity of coupling a high-accuracy radiation model when simulating combustion and flame propagation.