A Conservative Formulation of the Discrete Transfer Method

The discrete transfer method, often employed to calculate radiative heat transfer in combustion chambers, is not conservative. The reason for this behavior is examined and a conservative formulation is proposed and evaluated. A simple treatment of isotropic scattering media is also presented. The original and the conservative formulation of the method are applied to two-dimensional and three-dimensional enclosures containing a participating medium. It is shown that the accuracy of the original and the conservative formulation is very similar, but the proposed formulation has the advantage of ensuring energy conservation.