A new hybrid full-spectrum correlated k-distribution method for radiative transfer calculations in nonhomogeneous gas mixtures

The full-spectrum k-distribution (FSK) approach is a promising model for radiative transfer calculations in participating media. FSK achieves line-by-line (LBL) accuracy for homogeneous media at a tiny fraction of LBL's high computational cost. However, inhomogeneities in gas temperature, total pressure and component-gas mole fractions change the spectral distribution of the absorption coefficient and can cause inaccuracies in the FSK method. In this paper, a new hybrid FSK method is proposed that combines the advantages of the multi-group FSK (MGFSK) method for temperature inhomogeneities in a single gas specie and the multi-scale FSK (MSFSK) method for concentration inhomogeneities in gas mixtures. In this new hybrid method the absorption coefficients of each gas specie in the mixture are divided into M spectral groups depending on their temperature dependence. New and accurate MGFSK databases are constructed for combustion gases, such as CO2 and H2O. This paper includes a brief mathematical development of the new method, method of database construction and sample heat transfer calculations for I-D inhomogeneous gas mixtures with step changes in temperature and species mole-fractions. Performance and accuracy are compared to LBL and traditional FSK calculations. The new method achieves high accuracy in radiative heat transfer calculations in participating media containing extreme inhomogeneities in both temperature and mole fractions using as few as M = 2 spectral groups for each gas specie, accompanied by several orders of magnitude lower computational expense as compared to LBL solutions.