Radiation Heat Transfer

P M V Subbarao
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
IIT Delhi

A means for basic life on earth..

Introduction
Any matter with temperature above absolute zero (0 K)
emits electromagnetic radiation.
In a simplified picture, radiation comes from the constantly
changing electromagnetic fields of the oscillating atoms.
Electromagnetic radiation can be visualized as waves
traveling at the speed of light.
The two prominent characters of the wave are the
wavelength () and frequency ().
The wavelength is the distance between crest to crest on the
wave.
The frequency is related to wavelength by the following:

 The amount of radiation emitted by a body depends on its

temperature, and is proportional to T4.
This relation shows that as the temperature of the object
increases, the amount of radiation emitted increases very
rapidly.
The emitted radiation will travel at the speed of light until
it is absorbed by another body.
The absorbing medium can be gas, liquid, or solid.
Radiation does not require a medium to pass through.
This is demonstrated by solar radiation which pass through
interplanetary space to reach the earth.

The Emission Process

For gases and semitransparent
solids, emission is a volumetric
phenomenon.
In most solids and liquids the
radiation emitted from interior
molecules is strongly absorbed by
adjoining molecules.
Only the surface molecules can
emit radiation.

Hemispherical Surface Emission

Emissive Intensity

eb T
Ib

The radiation emitted by a body is spatially distributed:

I b f (r , , )

Electromagnetic Spectrum

Electromagnetic radiation is categorized into

types by their wavelengths.
The types of radiation and the respective
wavelength ranges are shown in Figure.
Radiation with shorter wavelengths are more
energetic, evident by the harmful gamma and xrays on the shorter end of the spectrum.
Radio waves, which are used to carry radio and
TV signals, are much less energetic; however,
they can pass through walls with no difficulty
due to their long wavelengths.
The type of radiation emitted by a body
depends on its temperature.
In general, the hotter the object is, the shorter
the wavelengths of emitted radiation, and the
greater the amount.
A much hotter body, such as the sun (~5800 K),
emits the most radiation in the visible range.

Radiation Laws
The average or bulk properties of electromagnetic
radiation interacting with matter are systematized in a
simple set of rules called radiation laws.
These laws apply when the radiating body is what
physicists call a blackbody radiator.
Generally, blackbody conditions apply when the radiator
has very weak interaction with the surrounding
environment and can be considered to be in a state of
equilibrium.
Although stars do not satisfy perfectly the conditions to be
blackbody radiators, they do to a sufficiently good
approximation that it is useful to view stars as approximate
blackbody radiators.

Planck Radiation Law

The primary law governing blackbody radiation is the Planck
Radiation Law.
This law governs the intensity of radiation emitted by unit surface
area into a fixed direction (solid angle) from the blackbody as a
function of wavelength for a fixed temperature.
The Planck Law can be expressed through the following equation.

2hc
E ,T 5

1
e

hc
kT

h = 6.625 X 10-27 erg-sec (Planck Constant)

K = 1.38 X 10-16 erg/K (Boltzmann Constant)
C = Speed of light in vacuum

The behavior is illustrated in

the figure.
The Planck Law gives a
distribution that;
peaks at a certain wavelength,
the peak shifts to shorter
wavelengths for higher
temperatures, and
the area under the curve
grows rapidly with increasing
temperature.

Monochromatic emissive power E

All surfaces emit radiation in many wavelengths and some,
including black bodies, over all wavelengths.
The monochromatic emissive power is defined by:
dE = emissive power in the wave band in the infinitesimal
wave band between and d

dE E , T d

The monochromatic emissive power of a blackbody is given by:

2hc
E ,T 5

1
e

hc
kT

Shifting Peak Nature of Radiation

Weins Displacement Law:

At any given wavelength, the black body monochromatic

emissive power increases with temperature.
The wavelength max at which is a maximum decreases as
the temperature increases.
The wavelength at which the monochromatic emissive
power is a maximum is found by setting the derivative of
previous Equation with respect to

1
2hc 2
d

hc
5
e kT 1
dE , T

d
d

maxT 2897.8mK

Wien law for three different stars

Some Blackbody Temperatures

Region

Wavelength
(centimeters)

Energy
(eV)

Blackbody Temperature
(K)

Radio

> 10

< 10-5

< 0.03

Microwave

10 - 0.01

10-5 - 0.01

0.03 - 30

Infrared

0.01 - 7 x 10-5

0.01 - 2

30 - 4100

Visible

7 x 10-5 - 4 x 10-5

2-3

4100 - 7300

Ultraviolet

4 x 10-5 - 10-7

3 - 103

7300 - 3 x 106

X-Rays

10-7 - 10-9

103 - 105

3 x 106 - 3 x 108

Gamma Rays

< 10-9

> 105

> 3 x 108

Stefan-Boltzmann Law
The maximum emissive power at a given
temperature is the black body emissive power (Eb).

Integrating this over all wavelengths gives Eb.

1
2hc
0 E , T d 0 5 hc d

e kT 1
E ,T

2hc
2

hc
15
k

4
4

T T
4

Relevance of Eb
Driving forces: Heat transfer by radiation
is driven by differences in emissive power
(proportional to T4), not just temperature
differences (convection & conduction).

The total (hemispherical) energy emitted by a body, regardless of the

wavelengths, is given by:

Qemitted AT

where is the emissivity of the body,

A is the surface area,
T is the temperature, and
is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, equal to 5.6710-8 W/m2K4.
Emissivity is a material property, ranging from 0 to 1, which
measures how much energy a surface can emit with respect to an
ideal emitter ( = 1) at the same temperature

Radiative Properties
When radiation strikes a surface, a portion of it is
reflected, and the rest enters the surface.
Of the portion that enters the surface, some are
absorbed by the material, and the remaining
radiation is transmitted through.
The ratio of reflected energy to the incident energy
is called reflectivity, .
Transmissivity () is defined as the fraction of the
incident energy that is transmitted through the
object.
Absorptivity () is defined as the fraction of the incident energy that is absorbed
by the object.
The three radiative properties all have values between zero and 1.
Furthermore, since the reflected, transmitted, and absorbed radiation must add up
to equal the incident energy, the following can be said about the three properties:

Emissivity
A black body is an ideal emitter.
The energy emitted by any real surface is less than the
energy emitted by a black body at the same temperature.
At a defined temperature, a black body has the highest
monochromatic emissive power at all wavelengths.
The ratio of the monochromatic emissive power Eto the
monochromatic blackbody emissive power at the same
temperature is the spectral hemispherical emissivity of the
surface.

E
( )
Eb

The total (hemispherical emissive power is, then, given by

E E d ( ) Eb d
Define total (hemisherical) emissivity, at a defined temperature

E d ( ) E d
b

E d
b

E d
b

Here, can be interpreted as either the emissivity of a body,

which is wavelength independent, i.e., is constant, or as the
average emissivity of a surface at that temperature.
A surface whose properties are independent of the wavelength is
known as a gray surface.
The emissive power of a real surface is given by

Absorptivity , Reflectivity and Transmissivity

Consider a semi-transparent sheet
that receives incident radiant
energy flux, also known as
irradiation, G .
Let dG represent the irradiation in
the waveband to d.
Part of it may be absorbed, part of
it reflected at the surface, and the
rest transmitted through the sheet.
We define monochromatic
properties,

Monochromatic Absorptivity :

dG

dG

G
d
G
0
dG
Monochromatic reflectivity :

dG
Total Absorptivity :

Total reflectivity :

d
0

Monochromatic Transmissivity :

dG

dG

Total Transmissivity :

G
d
G

Conservation of Irradiation
The total Irradiation =

G G G G

G G G
1

G
G G

Blackbody Radiation
The characteristics of a blackbody are :
It is a perfect emitter.
At any prescribed temperature it has the highest
monochromatic emissive power at all wave lengths.
A blackbody absorbs all the incident energy and there fore

It is non reflective body (

It is opaque (= 0).
It is a diffuse emitter
3..

Radiative Heat Transfer

Consider the heat transfer between two
surfaces, as shown in Figure.
What is the rate of heat transfer into
Surface B?
To find this, we will first look at the
emission from A to B.
Surface A emits radiation as described in

QA,emitted AA T

4
A A

This radiation is emitted in all directions, and only a fraction of it

will actually strike Surface B.
This fraction is called the shape factor, F.

The amount of radiation striking Surface B is therefore:

QB ,inceident FA B AA T

4
A A

The only portion of the incident radiation contributing to heating

Surface B is the absorbed portion, given by the absorptivity B:

QB ,absorbed B FA B AA T

4
A A

Above equation is the amount of radiation gained by Surface B

from Surface A.
To find the net heat transfer rate at B, we must now subtract the
amount of radiation emitted by B:

QB ,emitted BA T

4
B B

The net radiative heat transfer (gain) rate at Surface B is

QB QB ,absorbed QB ,emitted
QB B FA B AA T BA T
4
A A

4
B B

Shape Factors
Shape factor, F, is a geometrical
factor which is determined by the
shapes and relative locations of
two surfaces.
Figure illustrates this for a
simple case of cylindrical source
and planar surface.
Both the cylinder and the plate
are infinite in length.
In this case, it is easy to see that
the shape factor is reduced as the
distance between the source and
plane increases.
The shape factor for this simple
geometry is simply the cone angle
() divided by 2

 Shape factors for other simple

geometries can be calculated using
basic theory of geometry.
For more complicated geometries, the
following two rules must be applied
to find shape factors based on simple
geometries.
The first is the summation rule.
This rule says that the shape factor from a surface (1) to another (2) can be
expressed as a sum of the shape factors from (1) to (2a), and (1) to (2b).

F12 F12 a F12b

The second rule is the reciprocity rule, which relates the shape factors
from (1) to (2) and that from (2) to (1) as follows:

A1 F12 A2 F21

Thus, if the shape factor from (1) to (2) is known, then the shape
factor from (2) to (1) can be found by:

F12

A2

F21
A1

If surface (2) totally encloses the surface 1:

F12 1

Geometric Concepts in Radiation

Solid Angle:

dAn
d 2
r

d sin d d
Emissive intensity

dq
I e ,
dS n d

W/m 2 Sr

Monochromatic Emissive intensity

dq
I ,e , ,
dS n dd

W/m 2 Srm

dS n dS cos
dSn

Total emissive power

dS

Ee

all
directions

q Ee

0 0

dS n
Ie
d
dS

I ,e ( , , ) cos sin d d d