S2S Model: Radiative Space Heater

S2S Radiation Model, Radiative Space Heater CFD Simulation

Description

This project simulates a radiative space heater using the Surface-to-Surface (S2S) radiation model in ANSYS Fluent, illustrating radiation heat transfer in a non-participating medium — meaning the air within the heater neither absorbs, emits, nor scatters radiation, leaving heat exchange to occur purely between surfaces.

The 3D geometry represents the heater's interior, featuring heating cylinders paired with parabolic reflector plates, meshed using an unstructured grid totaling 703,545 cells.

Methodology

The S2S radiation model is well-suited to enclosures with gray-diffuse surfaces where the surrounding medium doesn't participate in radiation, accounting for surface-to-surface radiative exchange based on each surface's size, distance, and relative orientation through calculated view factors. Since the medium itself is neglected in this model — no absorption, emission, or scattering occurs within it — the simulation focuses entirely on the geometric relationships between the radiating heating cylinders and the parabolic reflector plates, and how effectively that geometry directs radiative heat toward the desired output direction.

Conclusion

Results include temperature distribution throughout the heater's interior, temperature gradients illustrating the resulting heat flow patterns, and the radiation exchange occurring between the heating elements and the reflector plates.

These results demonstrate how the reflector geometry shapes and redirects radiative output from the heating cylinders, offering insight directly applicable to optimizing reflector design for more efficient and directed heat distribution — relevant not only to space heater design but to any application relying on surface-to-surface radiative exchange, such as electronic enclosure thermal management or oven and furnace design.