Radiative heat transfer in absorbing, emitting, and anisotropically scattering boundary-layer flows

The effect of scattering on heat transfer in boundary layer flows over a flat plate, over a 90 deg wedge and in stagnation flow is investigated. To this end, a linear anisotropic scattering model is employed. The P-3 and P-1 approximation methods are used to analyze the radiation part of the problem. The complete nonsimilar boundary layer equations are solved by an implicit collocation procedure. Comparisons with the existing exact results for the case of isotropic scattering show that overall, the P-3 approximation is more accurate than the P-1 approximation in predicting the total heat flux at the wall. Scattering generally leads to a reduction in the total heat flux. The degree of anisotropy can have a significant effect on the heat transfer in the boundary layer. The total heat flux for a forward scattering fluid can be greater than that for a nonscattering fluid depending on the value of the scattering albedo and the forward-backward scattering parameter.