Gas Radiation Effect on Thermal Characteristics of Porous Radiant Burner

Thermal characteristics of a porous radiant burner (PRB) including gas radiation effects are identified in the present study. This system operates on the basis of effective energy conversion method between flowing gas enthalpy and thermal radiation. In the PRB, the gas and solid phases are considered in non-local thermal equilibrium and combustion is modeled by considering a non-uniform heat generation zone. The porous media as a gray body, in addition to its convective heat exchange with the gas, can absorb, emit and scatter thermal radiation. In order to accurately determine the thermal characteristics of PRB, the gas radiation is also taken into account and a theoretical analysis is conducted for a two dimensional model, where convection, conduction and radiation take place simultaneously in porous medium and gas flow. Discrete ordinates method is used to obtain the distribution of radiative heat flux in the porous media and the coupled energy equations for the gas and porous medium in steady condition are solved numerically. The crucial influence of gas radiation effect on the system's performance is thoroughly explored. A comparison has been made between the present numerical results and those reported by other investigators to validate the simulation for the gas radiative effect.