2.11.4 Cavity radiation https://classes.engineering.wustl.edu/2009/spring/mase5513/abaqus/docs...

2.11.4 Cavity radiation

Product: ABAQUS/Standard

The formulation described in this section provides a capability for modeling heat transfer with cavity thermal
radiation (in addition to the radiation boundary conditions described in “Uncoupled heat transfer analysis,”
Section 2.11.1). Cavities are defined in ABAQUS/Standard as collections of surfaces that are composed of
facets. In axisymmetric and two-dimensional cases a facet is a side of an element; in three-dimensional cases a
facet can be a face of a solid element or a surface of a shell element. For the purposes of the cavity radiation
calculations, each facet is assumed to be isothermal and to have a uniform emissivity.

Based on the cavity definition, cavity radiation elements are created internally by ABAQUS. These elements
can generate large matrices since they couple the temperature degree of freedom of every node on the cavity
surface. Their Jacobian matrix is nonsymmetric: the nonsymmetric solution capability is automatically invoked
if cavity radiation calculations are requested in the analysis. Both steady-state and transient capabilities are
provided.

The theory on which this cavity radiation formulation is based is well-known and can be found in
Holman (1990) and Siegel and Howell (1980). This section describes the formulation of the cavity radiation
flux contributions and respective Jacobian for the Newton method used for the solution of the nonlinear
radiation problem. The geometrical issues associated with the calculation of radiation viewfactors necessary in
the formulation are addressed in “Viewfactor calculation,” Section 2.11.5.

Thermal radiation

Our formulation is based on gray body radiation theory that means that the monochromatic emissivity of the
body is independent of the wavelength of propagation of the radiation. Only diffuse (nondirectional) reflection
is considered. Attenuation of the radiation in the cavity medium is not considered. Using these assumptions
together with the assumption of isothermal and isoemissive cavity facets, we can write the radiation flux per
unit area into a cavity facet as

where

and is the area of facet i (seeing all cavity facets ); are the emissivities of facets ; is the
Stefan-Boltzmann constant; is the geometrical viewfactor matrix; are the temperatures of facets ;
is the absolute zero on the temperature scale used; and is the Kronecker delta.

In the special case of blackbody radiation, where no reflection takes place (emissivity equal to one), Equation
2.11.4–1 reduces to

Spatial interpolation

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The variables used to solve the discrete approximation of the heat transfer problem with cavity radiation are the
temperatures of the nodes on the cavity surface. Since we assume that for cavity radiation purposes each facet
is isothermal, it is necessary to calculate an average facet temperature radiation power. To do so, we first
define temperature radiation power as

where the subscript i refers to facet quantities and the superscript N refers to nodal quantities.

Then, we interpolate the average facet temperature radiation power from the facet nodal temperatures as

where N is the number on nodes forming the facet and are nodal contribution factors calculated from area
integration as

where are the interpolation functions for facet i.

The radiation flux into facet i can now be written as

where

and

This can be rewritten as

where

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Cavity radiation flux and Jacobian contributions

The nodal contributions from the radiation flux on each facet can now be written as

and the total radiation flux at node N is

Substituting Equation 2.11.4–3 and Equation 2.11.4–4 in the above equation:

where

The radiation flux is evaluated based on temperatures at the end of the increment, coordinates at the end of
the increment, and emissivities at the beginning of the increment. Any time variation of the coordinates during
the heat transfer analysis is predefined as translational and/or rotational motion and, therefore, provides no
contribution to the Jacobian. Any variation of the emissivities as a function of temperature and predefined field
variable changes with time is treated explicitly (values at the beginning of the increment are used) and,
therefore, also provides no contribution to the Jacobian. The user can specify the maximum allowable
emissivity change during an increment of the heat transfer analysis. Thus, the only Jacobian contribution is
provided by temperature variations.

The Jacobian contribution arising from the cavity radiation flux is then written trivially as

In all practical cases the Jacobian is unsymmetric. This exact unsymmetric Jacobian is always used when
cavity radiation analysis is performed.

Reference

“Cavity radiation,” Section 32.1.1 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual

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