Detailed numerical simulation of radiative transfer in a nonluminous turbulent jet diffusion flame

Radiative transfer in a turbulent jet diffusion flame has been calculated using the discrete ordinates and the ray tracing. The radiative properties of the medium were computed using the correlated k-distribution method and the statistical narrow-band model. The interaction between turbulence and radiation was examined and ways to account for this interaction were compared. Calculations using a stochastic semicausal model were carried out to accurately simulate that interaction, and to provide reference solutions for evaluating the precision of simpler approaches. The models were applied to decoupled radiative transfer calculations in a flame, using experimental fields for temperature and species' concentrations as an input. The correlated k-distribution method, along with the full turbulence/radiation interaction, gave results in very good agreement with the statistical narrow band along with the stochastic model, but the total measured radiative heat loss was underestimated by similar to 11.5%. This is likely to be mainly due to the need to extrapolate the data downstream of the last measured radial profile. Enhancement of the radiative heat loss due to turbulent fluctuations was almost 50% in this flame; this exceeds a previous estimate based on a simpler model for the radiative properties of a gas. (C) 2003 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.