Radiative heat transfer in natural gas-fired furnaces

The performance of the discrete transfer and of the six-flux radiation mode ls is assessed in a swirling natural diffusion flame confined in an axisymm etric furnace. The predictions are evaluated as part of a complete predicti on procedure involving the modeling of the simultaneously occurring flow, c ombustion, convection and radiation phenomena. Computational results with a nd without radiation effects are compared with experimental data and the tw o radiation models are evaluated in terms of computational efficiency, ease of application and predictive accuracy. The results have demonstrated that the effect of thermal radiation is important even in light flames, and tha t the six-flus model can be applied in industrial gas furnaces with relativ e ease, yielding accurate predictions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All r ights reserved.