An enriched finite element model with q-refinement for radiative boundary layers in glass cooling

Abstract

Radiative cooling in glass manufacturing is simulated using the partition of unity finite element method. The governing equations consist of a semi-linear transient heat equation for the temperature field and a stationary simplified P1 approximation for the radiation in non-grey semitransparent media. To integrate the coupled equations in time we consider a linearly implicit scheme in the finite element framework. A class of hyperbolic enrichment functions is proposed to resolve boundary layers near the enclosure walls. Using an industrial electromagnetic spectrum, the proposed method shows an immense reduction in the number of degrees of freedom required to achieve a certain accuracy compared to the conventional h-version finite element method. Furthermore the method shows a stable behaviour in treating the boundary layers which is shown by studying the solution close to the domain boundaries. The time integration choice is essential to implement a q-refinement procedure introduced in the current study. The enrichment is refined with respect to the steepness of the solution gradient near the domain boundary in the first few time steps and is shown to lead to a further significant reduction on top of what is already achieved with the enrichment. The performance of the proposed method is analysed for glass annealing in two enclosures where the simplified P1 approximation solution with the partition of unity method, the conventional finite element method and the finite difference method are compared to each other and to the full radiative heat transfer as well as the canonical Rosseland model.