Overview of Radiative Transfer in Cellular Porous Materials

Highly porous cellular materials capable of absorbing, emitting and scattering radiation are finding use at low and high temperatures in a range of traditional and modern technologies. The motivation for use of cellular materials is attributed to the high volumetric heat transfer rate (i.e., large surface area to volume ratio, high volumetric heat transfer coefficient), and large mixing rate due to the tortuosity of open cell foams. A brief overview of simulating heat transfer in cellular materials is presented and most important modeling parameters are identified, but the focus of the discussion is on heat transfer in cellular materials in the presence of radiation environment. Several examples involving radiation, conduction and radiation as well as convection and radiation for different technological applications are discussed, and the models are assessed by comparing the predictions with experimental data.