Joint Meeting of The Scandinavian-Nordic and Italian Sections of The Combustion Institute

Validation of a Flux Method for Radiative Heat Transfer in Plug Flow Reactors
M. Filla
Dipartimento di Processi Chimici dellIngegneria - Universit di Padova (Italy) INTRODUCTION Flux methods are conceptually approximate methods for the calculation of the rate of radiative heat transfer with remarkable computational advantages with respect to conceptually exact methods like Hottels zone method and the MonteCarlo method. The attention has been focused here on the quantitative aspects of the flux method approximation in order to distinguish cases where Roeslers one-dimensional flux method can be applied safely from those where caution is required. ANALYSIS The steady state temperature profile of a medium along a PFR is governed by the energy balance:

d dT [u (c p T + Yf HV) k eff + qR ] = 0 dx dx

(1)

where the contributions of sensible and chemical enthalpy, effective diffusion and radiation appear in this order, to be solved together with the auxiliary equations for the mass velocity u = u(x), the equivalent unburned fuel mass fraction Yf =Yf(x), the effective thermal conductivity keff, and the absorption coefficient of the reacting medium ka. The temperature profile of the bounding walls where the heat flux is assigned, and the heat flux profile where the temperature is specified are then also determined. With reference to the elementary volume located by point P along the duct of fig. 1, where a beam of incident radiation of intensity Ii(P, ) is visualized together with the relevant elementary solid angle d, the radiative contribution to the energy balance eq. (1) is

dqR / dx = ka [4T 4 ( x) I i ( x, )d]

4

(2)

The intensity of the incident radiation Ii (x, ) being governed by the radiative transport equation, the radiative contribution confers non-linear integro-differential form to the energy balance eq. (1). In the zone method approach [1] the volume and the bounding walls are subdivided in Nv and Ns zones, and the integral contribution of absorption in eq. (2) is obtained by the sum of the contributions of each zone, so that with reference to the volume zone Vn

Ii ( x , )d = [ SJ G n Tj4 + G p G n Tp4 ] / k a Vn
1 j 1 p

Ns

Nv

(3)

where the blackbody emissive power of each zone is weighted by the relevant total exchange area [1]. The radiative contribution expressed by eq. (3) is conceptually exact. However, this is a form that adds a considerable computational burden to the solution of the set of algebraic equations generated 9.1.1

Joint Meeting of The Scandinavian-Nordic and Italian Sections of The Combustion Institute

by the discretization of eq. (1), because all elements of the matrix of the coefficients, which is tridiagonal in a non-radiating medium, become non-zero if the medium absorbs/emits thermal radiation. The radiative contribution can, however, be brought to yield a tridiagonal set of algebraic equations by discretization if expressed by the flux method approach. The flux method approximation consists in the assumption of the angular distribution of incident intensity Ii(x, ). The discrete ordinate one-dimensional flux method originated by Roesler [2] is characterized by a constant intensity profile within each 2 solid angle centred about the positive and negative direction of the axis, as shown in fig. 2. A function G(x) such that 1 G ( x ) = I i ( x , ) d 4 4 can then be introduced, whereby the radiative contribution to the energy balance eq. (1) takes the form

dq R / dx = 4k a [T 4 ( x ) G ( x )]
G(x) is governed by the ordinary differential equation

d 2G / dx 2 = c3 (c1G + c 2 )

(4)

so that the matrix of the coefficients of the set of algebraic equations generated by the discretization of eq. (1) is now tridiagonal for radiating as well as for non-radiating media. The heat fluxes absorbed at the side and end walls qsw(x) and qew,i are related to G(x) by the relationships: qsw(x) = sw[G(x) - Tsw4] , qew,i = cew,i[G)ew,i - Tew,i4] i = 1, 2 The explicit dependence of the coefficients c1, c2, c3, cew,i on the absorption thickness of the medium and on the nature, temperature and emissivity of the side and end walls, as well as the boundary conditions of eq. (4), can be found in Ref. 2. . VALIDATION PROCEDURE - The accuracy of the flux method above has been determined by comparison of the heat flux profile at the absorbing walls of a cylindrical PFR combustor obtained for assigned temperature profile of the medium with the corresponding exact profile. The differences between approximate and exact heat fluxes are functions of the emissivity of the absorbing walls (sw, ew,i), absorption thickness of the medium (kaD), and aspect ratio of the chamber (L/D), namely:

qi(x) = f(x, sw, ew,i, kaD, L/D)

For any given pair of values of kaD and of L/D the discrepancy qi,max is a maximum when the walls are black. The is reported in figs. 3 and 4 in function of the absorption thickness of the medium for selected values of the aspect ratio are these maximum relative differences. In the case of isothermal medium the PFR combustor is also a CSTR, a well known case for which the flux absorbed by the bounding walls is given by Hottel [1] in the form
4 q s = FsG (TG Ts4 )

9.1.2

Joint Meeting of The Scandinavian-Nordic and Italian Sections of The Combustion Institute

which is exact as long as the total exchange factor FsG is determined using the exact emissivity of the medium, i.e. that determined by the definition
G = gs / A s

(5)

where gs is the gas-surface direct exchange area of the enclosure [1]. The validity of the results obtained being independent of the shape of the temperature profile, as shown in Ref. 3, this elementary case is as good as any other for the purpose of validation of the flux method in object. RESULTS The percentage differences between the rates of heat transfer to the walls obtained by the flux method and those obtained by Hottels method for black wall cylindrical chambers of aspect ratio L/D =1 and L/D = 10 confining an isothermal medium of absorption thickness kaD are shown in fig. 3. The flux method underpredicts the rate of heat transfer with a maximum difference in correspondence of absorption thicknesses of the order of unity, and tends to become exact in both the transparent and thick medium limits. A more complex behaviour becomes apparent as the difference of the rates of heat transfer to the side wall are considered separately from those to the end walls, indicating that the result above is due to a compensation between an underestimation of the former and an overestimation of the latter. Moreover, the approximation of the heat flux to the side wall increases with increasing aspect ratio, i.e. as the weight of the rate of heat transfer to the end walls decreases. A very significant measure of the magnitude of the discrepancies introduced by the flux method approximation is now obtained by the comparison with that introduced in the exact zone method by the widespread practical approximation by which the emissivity of a grey medium is calculated using the estimate of the mean beam length Le = 3.5V/A in the relationship:
G = 1 - exp(-kaLe)

as an alternative to the exact but laborious determination by eq. (5). The discrepancies in the heat flux profiles at the side wall of a cylindrical chamber with radiatively adiabatic end walls are shown in fig. 4 for the two values of the aspect ratio L/D = 1 and L/D = 10. The rate of heat transfer is underestimated by both approximations with a maximum of about the same magnitude in correspondence of kaD 1. The two differences differ by amounts of the order of 1% in media of increasing absorption thickness (kaD > 1), whereas in more transparent media (kaD < 1) the flux method tends to become exact, while the underestimation of the rate of heat transfer due to the Le = 3.5V/A approximation on G reaches the order of 10% . CONCLUSIONS The rate of heat transfer to the end walls of a one-dimensional chamber is overestimated by Roeslers flux method, and that to the side walls is underestimated. The approximation to the exact rate of heat transfer to the side walls can be even better than that of the zone method when the Le = 3.5V/A approximation of the mean beam length is used for the determination of the gas emissivity, e.g. as the rate of heat transfer to the end walls tends to become negligible and/or the aspect ratio of the chamber exceeds the order of unity. REFERENCES
1. 2. Hottel, H.C. and Sarofim, A.F., Radiative Transfer, McGraw-Hill, New York (1967) Filla, M., Chem. Eng. Sci., 39:159 (1984) 3. Filla, M., Combustion and Sustainable Development, Roma, Italy, June, p. II.5 (2002).

9.1.3

Joint Meeting of The Scandinavian-Nordic and Italian Sections of The Combustion Institute

FIGURES

Fig. 1 The intensity of incident radiation Ii(P, ) on the elementary volume along a 1-D duct is a function of the point P(x) and of the direction of the impinging beam .

Fig. 2 The incident intensity profile on the elementary volume in the discrete ordinate 1-D flux method approximation.
sw %
0

-10 -20

0 t% -5 -10 -15 -20 0.01

-30

0.01

0.1

kaD

10

ew % 40
0.1 1 kaD 10
30 20 10 0 -10

50

Fig. 3 Percentage differences between the flux method and the exact rates of heat transfer to the total (t%), side wall (sw%) and end walls (ew%) of a black cylindrical enclosure of aspect ratio L/D=1 (full line) and L/D=10 (dotted line).
20

0.01

0.1

kaD 10

sw %

sw %

20 10 0

10 0

L/D = 1

L/D = 10

-10 -20 -30

-10 -20

0.01

0.1

kaD

10

0.01

0.1

kaD

10

Fig. 4 - Percentage differences with respect to the exact rates of heat transfer to the side wall (sw%) of a black cylindrical enclosure due to the flux method approximation (full line) and to the Le=3.5V/A approximation on the emissivity G in the zone method (dotted line) for the two key values of the aspect ratio.

9.1.4