Ray Tracing Method Research Articles

Experimental study on concentrated light photothermal catalytic glycerol for hydrogen production using a novel linear concentrated light flow reactor

Developing a suitable scale-up photothermal reactor is important for the application of solar photothermal catalytic hydrogen(H2) production from biomass. Herein, Ru nanoparticles loaded on TiO2 were used as photocatalysts to catalyze hydrogen production from glycerol. A novel linear concentrated light flow reactor (LCLFR) was designed and installed. The effects of concentrated light intensity and thermal energy were investigated on the hydrogen production performance of LCLFR. The optical performance of the reactor was evaluated using Monte Carlo ray tracing method and experimentally validated. The spectral absorption and the photothermal conversion properties of Ru/TiO2 photocatalysts in the LCLFR were analyzed with different concentration light intensity. The results showed that both concentrated light and temperature could significantly enhance the hydrogen production performance of glycerol catalyzed by Ru/TiO2. Notably, the promotion of hydrogen production rates by concentrated light becomes stronger at elevated temperatures.

Resolving Flow Structures Inside Three Dimensional Packed Beds With Gas Flow By Ray Tracing Particle Image Velocimetry

Two different configurations are investigated in this study by ray tracing Particle Image Velocimetry to access the interior of different spherical packing structures. Configuration 1 consists of a regular bidisperse packed bed of 10mm and 40mm spheres based on a body-centered cubic arrangement. Ray tracing Particle Image Velocimetry was performed behind two spheres in the 40mm layer for particle Reynolds numbers from 200 to 700. The averaged velocity flow fields show the jet structures according to the pores between the underlying smaller spheres and the influence of the large spheres. Since ray-tracing Particle Image Velocimetry suffers from experimental and numerical limitations, planar 2D Particle Image Velocimetry measurements are performed to obtain spatially highly resolved validation data in the optically accessible void pores. These measurements were performed at different height positions in the bed showcasing that similar flow fields appear in the different pores. Configuration 2 deals with the jet flow (Re=5900) around an individual sphere, part of a body-centred cubic arrangement of d=40mm spheres. The emphasis lays on the temporally resolved snapshot data of the turbulent jet flow obtained by ray tracing Particle Image velocimetry. Data obtained from both configurations is used for a comprehensive discussion of the chances and challenges of ray tracing Particle Image Velocimetry. Limitations appear on the experimental side, like generation of depth of field, illumination and reflections, sufficient measurement signal, and accuracy of the geometry, but also on the numerical side, like the reproduction of the geometry, material properties, and real-world conditions. Since all these phenomena are interlinked, performing the ray tracing method in more complex systems is questionable.

Simulating the Appearance of Aerial Images formed by Aerial Imaging by Retroreflection

Ray tracing, combined with ideal retroreflection and mathematical simulation methods, has been used to design aerial imaging systems based on retroreflection. Although aerial images are blurred and have lower brightness than the light source, existing simulation methods do not focus on the appearance of these characteristics. In this study, we propose a computer graphics (CG)-based simulation using the ray tracing method to generate CG renditions of aerial images with reproduced luminance and blurring. CG models of three optical elements (light source, half-mirror, and retroreflector) were created on the basis of existing optical element models to simulate aerial images obtained through retroreflection in aerial imaging systems. By measuring the image formation positioning, we determined that the rendered aerial images consistently formed at a plane-symmetrical position relative to the axis of the half-mirror model, with a mean absolute error of 0.55mm\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${0.55\\,\ extrm{mm}}$$\\end{document}. We also compared rendered and actual aerial images in terms of luminance and sharpness characteristics, and found that the mean absolute percentage error of luminance remained within 0.0376\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$0.0376$$\\end{document}. Furthermore, the directional dependence of blur was effectively reproduced using the retroreflector bidirectional reflectance distribution function developed in this study.

Optical Imaging Model Based on GPU-Accelerated Monte Carlo Simulation for Deep-Sea Luminescent Objects

Modeling and simulating the underwater optical imaging process can assist in optimizing the configuration of underwater optical imaging technology. Based on the Monte Carlo (MC) method, we propose an optical imaging model which is tailored for deep-sea luminescent objects. Employing GPU parallel acceleration expedites the speed of MC simulation and ray-tracing, achieving a three-order-of-magnitude speedup over a CPU-based program. A deep-sea single-lens imaging system is constructed in the model, composed of a luminescent object, water medium, double-convex lens, aperture diaphragm, and sensor. The image of the luminescent object passing through the imaging system is generated using the forward ray-tracing method. This model enables an intuitive analysis of the inherent optical properties of water and imaging device parameters, such as sensor size, lens focal length, field of view (FOV), and camera position on imaging outcomes in the deep-sea environment.

Research on channel modeling technology of visible light communication system based on the ray tracing method

Abstract Visible Light Communication (VLC) is a new mode that combines lighting and communication. Because it can meet the needs of large capacity and ultra-high transmission rate, effective analysis of indoor visible light channel characteristics can better provide VLC systems. We provide a reference basis for the design, and VLC technology using Light Emitting Diode (LED) as the light source has become one of the research hotspots in the field of wireless communications. To solve the problems of existing indoor visible light channel modeling methods such as being ideal, high complexity, or poor in versatility, this paper researches indoor visible light communication channel modeling and related theories and methods, using rays with strong scene adaptability. Based on the tracking method, starting from the need to reduce computational complexity and improve tracking accuracy, a channel modeling method for indoor visible light communication is designed. We propose a high-precision indoor visible light communication channel modeling method that combines central ray tubes and bidirectional ray tracing. We use the forward ray tracing method to model indoor visible light communication channels. The simulation experimental results show that the channel modeling method proposed in this article can effectively improve modeling efficiency.

PyC[formula omitted]Ray: A flexible and GPU-accelerated radiative transfer framework for simulating the cosmic epoch of reionization

Detailed modeling of the evolution of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium during the Epoch of Reionization, 5≤z≤20, is critical in interpreting the cosmological signals from current and upcoming 21-cm experiments such as the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Numerical radiative transfer codes provide the most physically accurate models of the reionization process. However, they are computationally expensive as they must encompass enormous cosmological volumes while accurately capturing astrophysical processes occurring at small scales (≲Mpc). Here, we present pyC2Ray, an updated version of the massively parallel ray-tracing and chemistry code, C2-Ray, which has been extensively employed in reionization simulations. The most time-consuming part of the code is calculating the hydrogen column density along the path of the ionizing photons. Here, we present the Accelerated Short-characteristics Octahedral ray-tracing (ASORA) method, a ray-tracing algorithm specifically designed to run on graphical processing units (GPUs). We include a modern Python interface, allowing easy and customized use of the code without compromising computational efficiency. We test pyC2Ray on a series of standard ray-tracing tests and a complete cosmological simulation with volume size (349Mpc)3, mesh size of 2503 and approximately 106 sources. Compared to the original code, pyC2Ray achieves the same results with negligible fractional differences, ∼10−5, and a speedup factor of two orders of magnitude. Benchmark analysis shows that ASORA takes a few nanoseconds per source per voxel and scales linearly for an increasing number of sources and voxels within the ray-tracing radii.

MS-GWaM: A Three-Dimensional Transient Gravity Wave Parametrization for Atmospheric Models

Abstract Parameterizations for internal gravity waves in atmospheric models are traditionally subject to a number of simplifications. Most notably, they rely on both neglecting wave propagation and advection in the horizontal direction (single-column assumption) and an instantaneous balance in the vertical direction (steady-state assumption). While these simplifications are well justified to cover some essential dynamic effects and keep the computational effort small, it has been shown that both mechanisms are potentially significant. In particular, the recently introduced Multiscale Gravity Wave Model (MS-GWaM) successfully applied ray-tracing methods in a novel type of transient but columnar internal gravity wave parameterization (MS-GWaM-1D). We extend this concept to a three-dimensional version of the parameterization (MS-GWaM-3D) to simulate subgrid-scale nonorographic internal gravity waves. The resulting global wave model—implemented into the weather forecast and climate code Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON)—contains three-dimensional transient propagation with accurate flux calculations, a latitude-dependent background source, and convectively generated waves. MS-GWaM-3D helps reproduce expected temperature and wind patterns in the mesopause region in the climatological zonal mean state and thus proves a viable internal gravity wave (IGW) parameterization. Analyzing the global wave action budget, we find that horizontal wave propagation is as important as vertical wave propagation. The corresponding wave refraction includes previously missing but well-known effects such as wave refraction into the polar jet streams. On a global scale, three-dimensional wave refraction leads to a horizontal flow-dependent redistribution of waves such that the structures of the zonal mean wave drag and consequently the zonal mean winds are modified.

An Accelerated Ray Tracing Method based on Embree3 Ray Tracing Library for Targets with Non-uniform Thickness Materials

This paper proposes an accelerated ray tracing method utilizing the Embree3 ray tracing library for targets with non-uniform thickness materials. In contrast to the traditional surface-based ray tracing, the proposed approach performs ray tracing within the materials, since surface tracing is ineffective for materials with non-uniform thickness. To ensure efficiency and handle the overlapping grids between different materials, the Embree3 ray tracing library is introduced to ray intersection. Numerical results confirm that the proposed method surpasses existing methods in terms of efficiency and applicability while maintaining accuracy.

The effect of processing parameters on the molten pool dynamics during laser powder bed fusion of CuCrZr/316L multi-material

The multi-material components formed by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) have shown potential in advanced equipment due to their superior performance. The uneven distribution of immiscible in the molten pool is a challenge for the performance of multi-material components. In this study, a thermo-fluidic particle scale numerical model coupled with a ray-tracing method is established to understand the formation of the immiscible CuCrZr/316L multi-material. The impact of process parameters on the distribution of CuCrZr and 316L is investigated. Results reveal that the experimental and simulation results agree well with a maximum molten pool width and depth difference of 7%. The recoil pressure and Marangoni convection contribute to the mixing of 316L and CuCrZr. As the scanning speed decreases or the scanning power increases, a longer molten pool lifetime is obtained, which increases the immiscible CuCrZr/316L mixing. A large number of CuCrZr islands are formed inside the molten pool at high energy density with improved homogeneity. This work can provide fundamental insights into understanding the distribution of immiscible metal material in the multi-materials LPBF process.

Implementation of energy interaction between laser beam and keyhole wall based on algebraically reconstructing free surface: An experimentally validated numerical framework

The interaction of the laser beam with the material is critical for determining laser processing quality, with ray tracing methods mostly used in energy transfer research. These techniques generally rely on only the volume of fluid (VOF) method or level set (LS) function to track the molten pool free surface, resulting in either accuracy loss or difficulty in ensuring mass conservation of the interface. The few coupled algorithms are built on geometric notions that are difficult to understand while being limited to structural grids. In this paper, we have proposed a revised ray tracing framework, so-called ARCLS, to derive the exact intersections of the rays with the keyhole wall which is represented by a continuous LS surface algebraically rebuilt on top of the VOF interface. It is easy to code and convenient for unstructured meshes. This framework is tested through a V-groove case and a set of Ti6Al4V titanium alloy laser welding examples. The findings reveal that the reconstructed LS surface perfectly matches the VOF interface, and the predicted molten pool profile agrees with the actual data well. The keyhole morphology and molten flow patterns are also consistent with the physical truths. Spattering, porosity, necking, and swelling are observed in the developing keyhole, which are the possible reasons for the potential welding defects. Further investigation suggested that the ARCLS-based algorithm collected more laser rays at the keyhole bottom compared to the standard technique, achieving a deeper keyhole profile and a reflection pattern that was more optically logical. The work presents a reliable approach for estimating laser energy distribution, which can be effectively applied to the heat-fluid coupling simulation for laser manufacturing processes in order to forecast the dynamic behaviors of keyhole and molten pool.

Visualization of Demodulated Sound Based on Sequential Acoustic Ray Tracing with Self-Demodulation in Parametric Array Loudspeakers

With the development of acoustic simulation methods in recent decades, it has become feasible to simulate the sound pressure distribution of loudspeakers before actually setting physical speakers and measuring the sound field. The parametric array loudspeaker (PAL) has attracted attention due to its sharp directivity and unique applications. However, the sound reproduced by PALs is generated by the nonlinear interactions of ultrasound in the air, which makes it difficult to simulate the reproduced sound of a PAL with low computational load. Focusing on the sharp directivity of ultrasound, we extended conventional acoustic ray-tracing methods to consider the self-demodulation phenomenon of PALs. In this study, we developed a visualization method for the demodulated sound of a PAL. Specifically, the demodulated sound pressure distribution can be simulated to estimate and visualize the area covered by the reproduced sound of PAL before setting a real PAL. In the proposed method, acoustic rays were generated sequentially to express the generation of demodulated sound. Therefore, the proposed method is expected to simulate the demodulated sound of a PAL with acceptable accuracy and low calculation complexity. Quantitative evaluation between simulation results and practical measurement has been carried out, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Enhancing optical and thermohydraulic performance of linear Fresnel collectors with receiver tube enhancers: A numerical study

Linear Fresnel collector system is a type of solar thermal utilization installation. It is mainly used to focus solar radiation on the receiver tube to generate high temperature thermal energy which can be applied in many aspects. This study investigates five different types of receiver tube models using water as the flowing medium, which leads to improving heat transfer performance by means of being equipped with enhancers. The optical results and thermohydraulic performance of the Linear Fresnel collector system are evaluated through Monte Carlo Ray Tracing and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation methods. The obtained optical results reveal that the distribution of energy flux density concentrating on the receiver tube surpasses that of the parabolic trough collector system. In order to maintain an energy reception rate of 90.0% or higher, the installation height range of the receiver tube should be between 1468–1532 mm. When the sun-tracking error increases from 0.0° to 1.0°, the overall optical efficiency of the Linear Fresnel collector system decreases from 98.9% to 79.7%. The thermohydraulic performance shows that the enhancers can generate a swirling flow as its main feature, which effectively promotes the homogenization of the temperature field and destroys the boundary layer near the receiver tube wall, thus greatly improving the convective heat transfer in the receiver tube. However, the introduction of the enhancers also means that the pressure drop loss of the receiver tube increases. Furthermore, the impact of the Kenics mixer's enhancer on heat transfer and flow characteristics is further amplified as the rotation rate decreases, owing to its alternating and complex structure. Through a comparative analysis of the influence of different receiver tube models on Nusselt number (Nu), Frictional resistance coefficient (f) and comprehensive evaluation criterion (PEC) under four rotation rate conditions (y = 6.3, 8.1, 11.34, 18.9), the conclusions present that the receiver tube with an enhancer at a low rotation rate has a larger Nu than that at a high rotation rate, while the Frictional resistance coefficient changes little at different rotation rates. Therefore, the PEC is higher when the receiver tube is equipped with a low-rotation-rate enhancer. Moreover, the receiver tube equipped with a Kenics mixer at a rotation rate of 6.3 was found to be the overall optimum case, with the PEC value varying from 1.47 to 1.73.

Radiant fluence from ray tracing in optical multipass systems

Optical multipass cells are used in photochemical reactors and laser excitation of weak transitions. In these applications, estimation of the radiation dose in a volume of interest allows us to assess the performance and optimize the design of the cell. We adopt radiant fluence as the figure of merit and employ the radiative transfer equation to derive analytical expressions for average radiant fluence in a given volume of interest. These expressions involve quantities that are either obtained with Monte Carlo ray tracing methods or approximated on the grounds of geometry arguments. Furthermore, we compute the spatial distribution of fluence by applying either of the two methods to individual volume elements in a rectangular voxel grid. Ray tracing is performed with Zemax OpticsStudio 18.9.

Particle-based modelling of laser powder bed fusion of metals with emphasis on the melting mode transition

The laser-beam powder bed fusion process for metals, commonly abbreviated as PBF-LB/M, is a widely used process for the additive manufacturing of parts. Numerical simulations are useful to identify optimal process parameters for different materials and to obtain detailed insights into process dynamics. The present work uses a single-phase incompressible Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) scheme to model PBF-LB/M which was found to reduce the required computational time and significantly stabilize the partially violent flow in the melt pool in comparison to a weakly compressible SPH approach. The laser-material interaction is realistically modelled by means of a ray tracing method. An approach to model the effective thermal coductivity of the powder bed is proposed. Excellent agreement between the simulation results and experimental X-ray analyses of the transition from conduction melting mode to keyhole mode including geometric properties of the vapor depression zone was found. These results prove the usability of SPH as a high precision simulation tool for PBF-LB/M.Graphic abstract

Enhancement of ionospheric heating effect by chemical release

The ionosphere can be artificially modified by employing ground-based high-power high-frequency electromagnetic waves to irradiate the ionosphere. This modification is achieved through the nonlinear interaction between the electromagnetic waves and the ionospheric plasma, leading to changes in the physical properties and structure of the ionosphere. The degree of artificial modification of the ionosphere is closely related to the heating energy density of high-frequency pump waves. Due to the high density of neutral constituents in the lower ionosphere and the high frequency of electron-neutral collisions, the energy of heating pump waves will be absorbed and attenuated during the penetration of the low ionosphere, seriously affecting the heating effect. This paper proposes a method to reduce the absorption of ionospheric heating pump waves by releasing electron attachment chemicals into low ionosphere to form a large-scale electron density hole. A model for mitigating pump waves absorption based on SF6 release is established, and the absorption at different frequencies is quantitatively calculated. The propagation characteristics of high-frequency signals in ionospheric holes are studied using a three-dimensional ray tracing method, and the results demonstrate that the chemical release method not only reduces the absorption attenuation of heating pump waves but also forms spherical electron density holes, which exhibit a focusing effect on the heating beam and enhance the heating effect. The results are of great significance for understanding the nonlinear interaction between electromagnetic wave and ionospheric plasma and improving the ionospheric heating efficiency.

Ray Tracing for Jupiter's Icy Moon Ionospheric Occultation of Jovian Auroral Radio Sources

AbstractThe ionospheres of Jupiter's icy moons have been observed by in situ plasma measurements and radio science. However, their spatial structures have not yet been fully characterized. To address this, we developed a new ray tracing method for modeling the radio occultation of the ionospheres using Jovian auroral radio sources. Applying our method to Jovian auroral radio observations with the Galileo spacecraft, we derived the electron density of the ionosphere of Ganymede and Callisto. For Ganymede's ionosphere, we found that the maximum electron density on the surface was 76.5–288.5 cm−3 in the open magnetic field line regions and 5.0–20.5 cm−3 in the closed magnetic field line region during the Galileo Ganymede 01 flyby. The difference in the electron density distribution was correlated with the accessibility of Jovian magnetospheric plasma to the atmosphere and surface of the moons. These results indicated that electron‐impact ionization of the Ganymede exosphere and sputtering of the surface water ice were effective for the producing Ganymede's ionosphere. For Callisto's ionosphere, we found that the densities were approximately 350 and 12.5 cm−3 on the night side hemisphere during Callisto 09 and 30 flybys, respectively. These results combined with previous observations indicated that atmospheric production through sublimation controlled the ionospheric density of Callisto. This method is also applicable to upcoming Jovian radio observation data from the Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer, JUICE.

18‐1: A Super‐fast and Precise Moiré Pattern Simulation Algorithm for Improving Antenna‐on‐Display Moiré Effect

This study introduces a super‐fast and precise simulation algorithm capable of generating human‐visible moiré patterns, taking into account real structures with diverse patterns. The simulation of entire area of a mobile phone screen can be completed in less than 10 minutes, demonstrating a remarkable efficiency improvement of approximately 1200‐fold compared to traditional ray tracing method. The improvement comes from that we use a simplified method of calculating geometric areas instead of the first‐principles approach used in ray tracing. Based on the proposed algorithm, the moiré patterns ofAoD are optimized and the display quality is guaranteed.

Generalized transport characterizations for short oceanic internal waves in a sea of long waves

Wave turbulence provides a conceptual framework for weakly nonlinear interactions in dispersive media. Dating from five decades ago, applications of wave turbulence theory to oceanic internal waves assigned a leading-order role to interactions characterized by a near equivalence between the group velocity of high-frequency internal waves with the phase velocity of near-inertial waves. This scale-separated interaction leads to a Fokker–Planck (generalized diffusion) equation. More recently, starting four decades ago, this scale-separated paradigm has been investigated using ray tracing methods. These ray methods characterize spectral transport of energy by counting the amplitude and net velocity of wave packets in phase space past a high-wavenumber gate prior to ‘breaking’. This explicitly advective characterization is based on an intuitive assignment and lacks theoretical underpinning. When one takes an estimate of the net spectral drift from the wave turbulence derivation and makes the corresponding assessment, one obtains a prediction of spectral transport that is an order of magnitude larger than either observations or reported ray tracing estimates. Motivated by this contradiction, we report two parallel derivations for transport equations describing the refraction of high-frequency internal waves in a sea of random inertial waves. The first uses standard wave turbulence techniques and the second is an ensemble-averaged packet transport equation characterized by the dispersion of wave packets about a mean drift in the spectral domain. The ensemble-averaged transport equation for ray tracing differs in that it contains the intuitively motivated advective term. We conclude that the aforementioned contradiction between theory, numerics and observations needs to be taken at face value and present a pathway for resolving this contradiction.

Mirror field optimization model based on thermal power maximization

Optimization of the heliostat field is very important in order to improve the performance of solar power tower (SPT) and reduce the construction cost. In this paper, we simulate and analyze the reflection relationship of the heliostats in the heliostat field and find the adjacent heliostats to the current heliostat by solving the distance matrix. The neighboring heliostats are projected onto the plane of the current heliostat, and the shadow-free region of the heliostat is obtained by the ray-tracing method and by considering the sunlight as a cone of light. The shadow blocking efficiency can be calculated based on the number of light strips in the region, and similarly the truncation efficiency can be calculated. Based on the circular heliostat field, a new cross-density distribution model based on the circular heliostat field is proposed. Under the condition of confirming the annual average thermal power, the distribution of the heliostat mirror field with the maximum thermal power per unit area, the optimal installation height and mirror size can be obtained.

Validation of a ray-tracing-based guided Lamb wave propagation methodology in aerostructures

Validation of a ray-tracing-based guided Lamb wave propagation methodology in aerostructures