An implicit Monte Carlo method for thermal radiation transport

Abstract

The equations of thermal radiative transfer are mathematical models that describe the physical processes of photons scattering through and being absorbed in and emitted by a high-energy background material. These processes are important research objects of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Numerical simulation is an indispensable method for this transportation equation. As an important method in the field of particle transportation, the Monte Carlo method has been widely employed in the fields of linear transportation of neutrons and high energy photons. However, traditional Monte Carlo method does not hold true when it is applied to the simulation of thermal radiation. In this research, an implicit Monte Carlo method based on calculable modeling and numerical simulation is studied. An integral transport equation that is suitable to Monte Carlo simulation is derived. A three-dimensional simulation code is developed, by which some thermal radiative transportation problems are simulated. The results of numerical experiments support that the implicit Monte Carlo method is applicable for thermal radiation transfer simulating. The work is expected to provide an important calculation method and tool for the thermal radiative transfer simulations of ICF.