A finite difference solution of non-linear systems of radiative-conductive heat transfer equations

Abstract

A finite difference solution for a system of non-linear integro-differential equations modelling the steady- state combined radiative-conductive heat transfer is proposed. A new backward-forward finite difference scheme is formulated for the Radiative Transfer Equation. The non-linear heat conduction equation is solved using the Kirchhoff transformation associated with a centred finite difference scheme. The coupled system of equations is solved using a fixed-point method, which relates to the temperature field. An application on a real insulator composed of silica fibres is illustrated. The results show that the method is very efficient. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.