Improvements to the discrete transfer method of calculating radiative heat transfer

Abstract In this article the discrete transfer method developed by Lockwood and Shah for calculating radiative heat transfer is examined. Various aspects of the algorithm are analysed and modifications suggested to improve the accuracy and computational performance. These modifications are evaluated by comparing predicted heat fluxes with analytic and numerically accurate solutions to test problems and measured fluxes from experiments. The evaluation study shows that the modifications yield significant improvements over the original algorithm.