Department of Chemical Engineering

UNIT OPERATIONS IV

HEAT TRANSFER
LESSON 8: RADIATION HEAT TRANSFER

Lecturer: Brandeice Jamieson

 Introduction

1.What is Radiation?
Radiation is energy transferred through electromagnetic
waves, moving without needing a medium.
2.Thermal Radiation
Thermal radiation is the heat emitted by an object due to its
temperature.
3.Types of Electromagnetic Radiation
The electromagnetic spectrum includes many types—visible
light, X-rays, microwaves, and thermal radiation.
4.Frequency and Wavelength
Each type of radiation is distinguished by its frequency (f)
and wavelength (λ), with speed C=λ×f
5.Speed of Propagation
Radiation travels at the speed of light (3 × 10⁸ m/s).
 Fundamental Concepts and Laws of Radiation

Three foundational laws govern radiation:

1. Planck’s law- describes how radiation is emitted across different wavelengths for a
blackbody

2. Wien's law- provides the peak emission wavelength based on temperature

3. Stefan-Boltzmann law- gives us the total power emitted

 • For gases and semitransparent solids, emission is a volumetric
phenomenon.
Emission Process • In most solids and liquids, the radiation emitted from interior
molecules is strongly absorbed by adjoining molecules.
• Only the surface molecules can emit radiation
 Surface Emission Properties

• Gases and vapors radiate energy only at certain wavelength bands, making them selective emitters.

• Thermal Radiation Emission Factors:

– Nature of the emitting surface

– Temperature of the surface

– Physical state of the surface

Factors Influencing Radiation Emission in Gases

• Layer Thickness: The thickness of the emitting gas layer affects its radiative intensity
• Gas Pressure: Pressure within the gas also influences the emission characteristics. Higher pressure typically leads to
denser molecular arrangements, affecting radiation transfer.
 Electromagnetic Radiation

• Electromagnetic Radiation: Propagation of a discrete packets of

energy called photons or quanta
• Each photon of frequency is considered to have an energy of
• Energy of the photon– inversely proportional to its wavelength
• Shorter wavelength radiation possess larger photon energies
• Electromagnetic Spectrum:
• Divided into regions: gamma rays, X-rays, ultraviolet (UV),
visible light, infrared (IR), microwaves, and radio waves.
• Thermal Spectrum:
• Focuses on infrared (0.7 µm - 100 µm), visible (0.4 - 0.7
µm), and ultraviolet radiation (0.1 - 0.4 µm) for heat
transfer.
 Properties of Electromagnetic Waves

• Frequency (f): Frequency is the number of oscillations per second, depending on the radiation source.

• Energy (E) Relation: Energy is inversely proportional to wavelength, so gamma rays and X-rays (short wavelengths) are

highly energetic and potentially destructive.

• Wavelength Behavior: Wavelength affects how waves interact with matter and the environment.
 Thermal Radiation
• In heat transfer, we are interested in energy
emitted by bodies due to their temperature only–
thermal radiation
• Doesn’t require a medium; it can occur through a
vacuum.
• The rate of radiation increases significantly with
temperature.
Examples:
•Hot metal or heated surfaces emit thermal radiation
that we can feel as heat from a distance, even without
direct contact.

•The sun is a prime example of thermal radiation; it

radiates energy that travels through the vacuum of
space to reach Earth, providing heat and light.
 Thermal Radiation Spectrum

• Light or the visible spectrum- violet to red

• A body that emits some radiation in the visible range is called a light source - sun
• Solar radiation: Electromagnetic radiation emitted by sun
• Wavelength band – 0.3 - 3ⴗm
• Half range is in the visible range
• Other half range is in the ultraviolet and infrared range
• Infrared- The radiation emitted by bodies at room temperature (0.76 – 100 ⴗm)
• UV includes the low-wavelength end of thermal radiation - kills microorganisms
and damages living organisms
 Description of the Thermal Radiation

Spectral Distribution

• Emitted Radiation – continuous, non-uniform distribution of

monochromatic (single wavelength) components

• Spectral distribution depends on

– Nature of the emitting surface

– Temperature of the emitting surface

– Directionality

• Example of Spectral Distribution in Heat Transfer:

– The infrared radiation emitted by a heated material can be

used in thermal imaging to detect heat patterns, while the
visible spectrum radiation is more relevant in lighting
applications.
 Radiation Interaction with Materials

• Thermal radiation is energy emitted due to an object’s

temperature. All objects emit radiation depending on their
temperature.
• Factors Influencing Radiative Heat Transfer
• Emissivity,
• surface area,
• temperature differences affect the rate of heat transfer.
• Stefan-Boltzmann Law: The rate of thermal radiation heat
transfer is proportional to the fourth power of temperature.
• Applications: Used in designing furnaces, solar energy
systems, and insulation to manage heat transfer efficiently."
 Radiation Interaction with Materials

1.Transmission, Absorption, and Reflection

Materials can either transmit, absorb, or reflect radiation. The extent depends on the material's properties.
2.Material Properties
Factors such as color, texture, and surface finish influence how radiation interacts with a material. Dark, rough surfaces tend to
absorb more radiation, while shiny, light-colored surfaces reflect it.
3.Radiative Heat Transfer Coefficient
The radiative heat transfer coefficient determines the rate at which radiation energy is transferred between surfaces.
4.Practical Applications
Examples include insulation in buildings, reflective coatings, and solar panel design to maximize or minimize radiation.
 • Blackbody – a perfect emitter & absorber of radiation. At a specified temperature and
wavelength
• Emits radiation uniformly in all directions – no directional distribution – it’s diffuse
Blackbody Radiation • The radiation energy emitted by a blackbody per unit area and per unit surface are
was determined by Jospeh Stefan
• Joseph Stefan (1879)– total radiation emission per unit time & area over all
wavelengths and in all directions:
 Properties of a Blackbody
• Spectral radiation emitted by a real surface –
different – Black body (Planck Distribution)

• Directional distribution need not be diffuse

• A blackbody absorbs all incident radiation,

regardless of wavelength and direction

• A blackbody emits radiation energy uniformly in

all directions per unit area normal to direction of
emission

• A blackbody is said to be a diffuse emitter since it

emits radiation energy uniformly in all directions.
 Distinction Between Idealized Black Body And
An Ordinary
Black Surface
• Any surface that absorbs light (the visible portion of radiation) would
appear in black to the eye and the surface that reflects it completely would
appear white

• Considering that visible radiation occupies a very narrow band of spectrum

from 0.4 to 0.76 ⴗm, we cannot make judgments about the blackness of a
surface on the basis of visual observations.

• Snow and white paint reflect light and thus appear white. But they are
essentially black for infrared radiation since they strongly absorb long
wavelength radiation.

• Surfaces coated with lampblack paint approach idealized blackbody

behaviour
 • SPECTRAL BLACKBODY EMISSIVE POWER– is the amount of radiation energy
Spectral Emissive Power emitted by a blackbody at an absolute temperature T per unit time, per unit
surface area, and per unit wavelength about the wavelength λ

The Planck Distribution– Spectral Distribution of Black Body emission

As metals are heated, they begin to

glow because their temperature
increases
 Spectral vs. Total Emissive Power

Total blackbody emissive power Spectral blackbody emissive power Planck’s Law

the overall energy emitted by a the energy emitted at a specific

blackbody per unit surface area and per wavelength, per unit surface area, per
unit time. unit time, and per unit wavelength.

depends only on the temperature of the depends on both the temperature and
blackbody, following the Stefan- the wavelength, as described by Planck's
Boltzmann law. law

. is a single value for a specific is a distribution of values across By Integrating Planck’s Law, we get the Total Blackbody
Emissive Power
temperature different wavelengths for a specific
temperature
 Radiation Distribution
• Radiation Distribution refers to how thermal radiation emitted by a surface is
spread across different wavelengths (spectral distribution) and directions
(directional distribution).
• At any temperature, there is no contribution by waves other than UV, VL,IF to
the thermal radiation
• The emitted radiation varies continuously with wavelength
• At any wavelength the magnitude of the radiation increases with increasing
temperature
• Spectral region in which the radiation is concentrated depends on the
temperature, comparatively more radiation appearing at shorter wavelengths
as the temperature increases
• Significant fraction of the radiation emitted by sun which may be
approximated by blackbody at 5800K is in the visible region of the spectrum
(0.39–0.77ⴗm)
• T>800K, emission is predominantly in the infrared region(0.77–100 ⴗm) of the
spectrum and is not visible to the eye
Wein’s Distribution Law

• Maximum spectral power is displaced to shorter wavelengths with increasing

temperature

• Solar radiation– middle of the spectrum ( λ = 0.5 ⴗm), since sun emits as a
blackbody at approximately 5800K

• Blackbody at 1000K, peak emission– 2.9 ⴗm

• With increasing temperature, shorter wavelengths become more prominent,

until eventually significant emission occurs over the entire visible spectrum

• Tungsten filament lamp– 2900 K (λmax = 1.0 ⴗm) emits white light, although
most of the emission remains in Infra-red region
 Real Body Radiation

• A black body is an ideal emitter.

• The energy emitted by any real surface is less than the

energy emitted by a black body at the same
temperature.

• At a defined temperature, a black body has the highest

monochromatic emissive power at all wavelengths.

• Radiation per unit area emitted from a real or grey

surface (emissivity is independent of wavelength) to
that emitted by a blackbody at the same temperature.

• A measure of how closely a surface approximates a

blackbody where ε=1

• 0< ε < 1 and depend on type, condition and roughness

of the material.
 Radiation Properties - Emissivity

• The emissivity of a surface is defined as the ratio of the radiation emitted by the
surface to the radiation emitted by a blackbody at the same temperature.

0≤ε≤1

• the emissivity of a surface at a specified wavelength is called spectral emissivity

and is denoted 𝜀𝜆.

• Emissivity in a specified direction called directional emissivity, denoted 𝜀𝜃, where

𝜃 is the angle between the direction of radiation and the normal of the surface.

• Emissivity is a measure of how closely a surface approximate a blackbody,

εblackbody = 1.

• Note that BB radiation is independent of direction.

• In practice, radiation properties are usually averaged over all directions and are
referred to as hemispherical properties.

• The emissivity of a surface is not a constant; it is a function of temperature of the

surface and wavelength and the direction of the emitted radiation, ε = ε (T, λ, θ)
 Spectral Hemispherical Emissivity

• The ratio of the monochromatic

emissive power to the
monochromatic blackbody emissive
power at the same temperature is
the spectral hemispherical emissivity
of the surface
• Total hemispherical emissivity is
defined in terms of the radiation
energy emitted over all wavelengths
in all directions
 Gray Body Radiation

• If the radiative properties of a body are assumed

to be uniform over the entire wavelength then
such a body is called “gray body”.

• Absorptivity remains constant over the range of

temperature and wavelength of incident
radiation.

• For a real body, it does not satisfy the condition

of constant.

• So Gray body is a concept only

 Incident Radiation

• Surfaces receive radiation emitted or reflected from other surfaces

• Intensity of incident radiation, I (W m-2):

– The rate at which radiation energy, dG is incident from a particular

direction per unit area of the receiving surface normal to this direction

• Irradiation, G (W m-2):

– The radiation flux incident on a surface from all directions

 Irradiation and Surface Interactions
• When radiation strikes a surface, part of it is
absorbed, part of it is reflected, and the remaining
part, if any, is transmitted.

• Absorptivity - fraction of irradiation absorbed by

the surface

• Reflectivity - fraction of irradiation reflected by

the surface

• Transmissivity - fraction of irradiation transmitted

by the surface
 Irradiation Properties

• A body which absorbs all incident radiation is called black body.

• For black body,

α = 1, β= 0, γ = 0

• Snow is nearly black to thermal radiations. α = 0.985

• The absorptivity of surfaces can be increased to 90-95% by coating their surfaces with lamp black or dark range paint.

• In actual practice, there does not exist a perfectly black body that will absorb all the incident radiations.

• Practical Applications:

– Solar Energy

– Thermal Radiation Studies

 Irradiation Properties
• For opaque surfaces τ = 0 and thus: α + ρ = 1.

• The entire incident radiation is either absorbed or reflected, and the material does not allow any radiation to pass
through

• The above definitions are for total hemi-spherical properties (over all direction and all frequencies).

• Properties in terms of their spectral counterparts:

 Radiosity

• Radiosity is the total radiation energy leaving a surface per unit time and per unit area

• Radiosity takes into account both the radiation emitted by the surface and the reflected radiation from other sources that the surface
may reflect.

• Radiosity is important in radiative heat transfer calculations because it quantifies the total energy leaving a surface, both from its own
emission and from reflected radiation.

• Understanding radiosity helps in calculating the net radiative heat exchange between surfaces.
 Kirchoff’s Law

• For any opaque surface the absorptivity (fraction of incident radiation absorbed) = emissivity

– ε (T) = α (T)
• The total emissivity of a surface at temperature T is equal to its total hemispherical absorptivity for radiation coming
from a blackbody at the same temperature

• Similarly for the spectral form of the law:

– ελ(T) = αλ(T)

The Kirchhoff’s law makes the radiation analysis easier (ε = α), especially for opaque
surfaces where ρ = 1 – α. Note that Kirchhoff’s law cannot be used when there is a
large temperature difference (more than 100 K) between the surface and the source
temperature.
 Solar Radiation
• The solar energy reaching the earth’s atmosphere is called the total solar irradiance Gs

• Total solar irradiance used to estimate the effective surface temperature of the sun

(4πL^2)Gs = (4πr^2)σT4

– r – sun’s radius, L - mean distance bet sun & earth

– LHS = total solar energy passing through a spherical surface with radius equivalent to the mean sun-earth distance

– RHS = total energy leaving the sun’s surface

The sun’s a blackbody at temperature of 5780 K from the eq above

• Direct (GD) and diffused (Gd) solar radiation

 Solar Radiation

• Variations in solar radiation receipt at the surface are due to differing path lengths of radiation through the atmosphere due to
Earth-Sun geometry and the effectiveness of atmospheric attenuation

• Attenuation Processes

– Absorption: the atmosphere is a relatively poor and selective absorber of shortwave. The principal agents are O3, cloud
droplets, particles and water vapour.

– Scattering: small gaseous molecules scatter or diffuse shortwave radiation. The shortest wavelengths are preferentially
scattered.

– Reflection: like a mirror, solar radiation is reflected from larger particles and dominantly by clouds. The reflectivity, or
albedo (α, ranges between 0 and 1 with a maximum value of 1 for a perfect reflector like a mirror) of cloud tops is between
0.4 and 0.8 with a mean of 0.55.
 Solar Radiation

• Solar radiation reaching the surface has 2 components:

• Direct-beam (GD) as a parallel stream from the solar disc,
and
• diffuse (Gd) from all points of the sky hemisphere (having
been scattered and reflected during passage through the
Atmosphere)
 Solar Radiation

• The gas molecules and the suspended particles in the

atmosphere emit radiation as well as absorbing it

• It is convenient to consider the atmosphere (sky) as a

blackbody at some lower temperature. This fictitious
temperature is called the effective sky temperature Tsky.
 Solar Radiation

• The net rate of radiation heat transfer to a surface exposed to solar

and atmospheric radiation is determined from an energy balance

• σ - Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.67×10−8 W/m2K45.67 )

• Tsky-temperature of the surrounding atmosphere in K
• Ts – Temperature of the surface in K
• Ꜫ – emissivity at room temp
 Greenhouse Effect

• A car left in the sun acts as a heat trap due to

the spectral transmissivity of the glass
• Windscreen is transparent in the 0.3μm<λ<3.0
μm
• At that thickness glass transmits 90.0 % of
radiation in the visible range
• At that thickness glass is opaque to radiation in
the infrared region, λ>3.0 μm

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

 Greenhouse Effect

Surfaces at room temperature emit Radiation in the infrared region

Solar radiation enters but infrared radiation from the interior surfaces are trapped.

The internal temperature of the car rises due to the non-gray characteristic of the car’s windscreen
View Factor in Radiation
• Radiation heat transfer between surfaces
depends on the orientation of the surfaces
relative to each other as well as their
radiation properties and temperatures.
• View factor (or shape factor) is a purely
geometrical parameter that accounts for the
effects of orientation on radiation between
surfaces.
• In view factor calculations, we assume
uniform radiation in all directions
throughout the surface, i.e., surfaces are
isothermal and diffuse.
– Also the medium between two surfaces does
not absorb, emit, or scatter radiation.
• Fi→j or Fij = the fraction of the radiation
leaving surface i that strikes surface j
directly.
The View Factor

Note the following:

• The view factor ranges between zero
and one.
• F 12= 0 indicates that two surfaces do
not see each other directly.
• F12= 1 indicates that the surface j
completely surrounds surface i.
• The radiation that strikes a surface
does not need to be absorbed by that
surface.
• F12 is the fraction of radiation leaving
surface i that strikes itself directly.
Thank you for your attention
Any Questions?

Brandeice Jamieson
Next Lesson:
[email protected]

School of Engineering, 4th Floor

Revision
Example 1