Startup analysis of oil-fired furnace – the smoothing Monte Carlo model approach

Abstract A multi-dimensional mathematical thermal model of the oil-fired furnace has been developed. Radiation calculation of this model is based on the Hottel's zone method incorporating with the statistical Monte Carlo method to determine the total exchange areas. The whole furnace is divided into 4 gaseous zones and 18 surface zones. The Monte Carlo method integrated with the least square smoothing technique considering both conservation and reciprocity is used to evaluate the total exchange areas, i.e. surface–surface, surface–gas, gas–gas and gas–surface, directly for both the absorbing and emitting media. A better accuracy is achieved in the determination of the total exchange areas by using the proposed smoothing Monte Carlo method.