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Monte Carlo Methods for Radiative Transfer

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Handbook of Thermal Science and Engineering

Abstract

The solution of the radiative transfer equation is challenging, especially in the presence of a participating medium, wavelength- and direction-dependent properties, or a complex geometry. The Monte Carlo method that relies on statistical sampling of photon bundles using pseudorandom numbers and probability distributions which are derived based on physical laws is a powerful and robust approach to solving the radiative transfer equation. While the method is computationally demanding even for simple surface exchange problems, introducing complex phenomena does not significantly increase formulation complexity or the required computational power. Therefore, the method has become one of the most widely adopted solution techniques with the increasing computation capacity in the last decades. This chapter introduces the method, presenting general guidelines to adopt it for solution of radiative transfer problems, discussing how to introduce further phenomena such as wavelength- or direction-dependent properties, and improving computational performance. The method is known for its flexibility and can be applied in many different ways. Different strategies are discussed, considering advantages or disadvantages of each for different problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Hakan Ertürk

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    John R. Howell

Authors
  1. Hakan Ertürk
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  2. John R. Howell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hakan Ertürk .

Section Editor information

  1. Armour College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Sumanta Acharya

  2. Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, Illinois, USA

    Yaroslav Chudnovsky

  3. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Renato Machado Cotta

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

    Ram Devireddy

  5. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Vijay K. Dhir

  6. Cekmeköy Campus, Özyegin University, Çekmeköy - Istanbul, Turkey

    M. Pinar Mengüç

  7. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science + Engineering, University of Toronto, Centre for Advanced Coating Technologies, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Javad Mostaghimi

  8. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California, USA

    Kambiz Vafai

  9. Çekmeköy Campus, Özyeğin University, Çekmeköy - Istanbul, Turkey

    Pinar Mengüç

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Ertürk, H., Howell, J.R. (2018). Monte Carlo Methods for Radiative Transfer. In: Handbook of Thermal Science and Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26695-4_57

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