A Monte Carlo simulation of radiative heat through fibrous media: Effects of boundary conditions and microstructural parameters

This work reports on a Monte Carlo Ray Tracing (MCRT) simulation technique devised to study steady-state radiative heat transfer in fibrous insulation materials. The media consist of specular opaque fibers having unimodal/bimodal fiber diameter distributions. The simulations are conducted in 2-D ordered geometries, and the role of lateral symmetric or periodic boundary conditions are discussed in detail. Our results indicate that with the symmetric or periodic boundary condition, view factor F(i,i) should be excluded from the calculations leading to temperature prediction. This is especially important when the media are made of fibers arranged in ordered configurations. In agreement with our previous 3-D MCRT simulations, the 2-D MCRT simulations presented here reveal that heat flux through a fibrous medium decreases by increasing packing fraction of the fibers, when fiber diameter is kept constant. Moreover, increasing fibers' absorptivity was found to decrease the radiation transmittance through the media. In this work, we have also studied radiative heat transfer through bimodal fibrous media, and concluded that increasing fibers' dissimilarity increases energy transmittance through the media, if porosity and number of fibers are kept constant. It was also found that temperature of the fibers is almost independent of the media's porosity or diameter ratios. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.