PREDICTION OF RADIATIVE TRANSFER IN GENERAL BODY-FITTED COORDINATES

Abstract

The discrete ordinates method (DOM) and the finite-volume method (FVM) are employed to simulate two-dimensional and three-dimensional radiation problems in general body-fitted coordinates. Numerical analyses of these two methods indicate that the discretized equations for the DOM and the FVM are very similar. However, the FVM uses the averaged direction and scattering phase function over a control angle rather than the discrete direction and scattering phase function as in the DOM. To examine the accuracy and computational efficiency of the DOM and FVM in general body-fitted coordinates, five two-dimensional and three-dimensional benchmark problems with transparent, absorbing, emitting, and scattering media are considered. The solutions from both methods are found to be in good agreement with other available solutions. In some cases, the results from the FVM seem slightly better than those from the DOM. The required CPU time and iterations for the DOM and FVM are essentially the same for each problem. This finding is slightly different from other studies that claim that the FVM requires more CPU time to converge than the DOM for scattering-medium computation.