The non-equilibrium Marshak wave problem

Abstract An analytic solution to a particular Marshak wave problem is given. The radiative transfer model used is the gray, non-equilibrium diffusion approximation which allows the radiation and material fields to be out of equilibrium. This solution should be useful as a reference problem for validating time-dependent radiative transfer computer codes, as well as investigating the convergence, as a function of space and time step size, for such codes. The coupling of the radiation field to the material field in a multigroup code, a difficult numerical problem, can also be tested against this solution. Typical numerical results are given for surface quantities, integral quantities, and the distribution of radiative energy and material temperature as a function of space and time.