A NEW METHOD FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THE RADIATIVE-TRANSFER EQUATION IN 3-DIMENSIONAL GEOMETRY .1. THEORY

We present a new method for solving the three-dimensional equation of transfer for an inhomogeneous static medium. The method can be extended easily to general linear transport problems. The technique used involves the reduction of the three-dimensional equation to a system of one-dimensional equations by a two-dimensional spatial and particular Fourier series, the resolution of the resulting system by the discrete ordinate method (any other classical method, such as the doubling method, can be used at this level), and finally, the reconstruction of the three-dimensional radiation field by the inverse Fourier series.