ASSESSMENT OF THE FINITE-VOLUME METHOD AND THE DISCRETE ORDINATE METHOD FOR RADIATIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN A THREE-DIMENSIONAL RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE

The finite-volume method (FVM) and the discrete ordinate method (DOM) are implemented to assess their capability to predict radiative heat transfer in a three-dimensional enclosure. A varying optical thickness and a nonuniform temperature profile are assumed to reproduce a typical furnace. Results show that the FVMperforms better than the DOMin optically thin media, while they show comparable accuracy in optically thick media. The lower-order FVM and DOM may lead to erroneous results due to the ray effect in optically thin media with a highly nonuniform temperature profile. The 8 12 FVM and the S8 DOM have shown good accuracy in all the test cases in this article.