view2space - A tool for computing view factors to space for CFD grids

About this technology

Overview

The standard radiation equilibrium boundary condition used for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations assumes a perfect view to space. In reality, surfaces within view of each other have a complex radiation interchange that need to be modeled to accurately capture the physics.The reduced view factor to space is simply the view of space visible from each face on the input CFD grid and varies from zero to one. The code models this by rendering a simple black and white image. The reduced view factor to space is computed by determining the percentage of black pixels (space) in the image.The view factors are then exported in a data file so that they can be used by a CFD code.