Evaluation of Maximum Entropy Moment Closure for Solution To Radiative Heat Transfer Equation

The maximum entropy moment closure for the two-moment approximation of the radiative transfer equation is presented. The resulting moment equations, known as the M1 model, are solved using a finite-volume method with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) and two Riemann-solver based flux function solvers: a Roe-type and a Harten-Lax van Leer (HLL) solver. Three different boundary schemes are also presented and discussed. When compared to the discrete ordinates method (DOM) in several representative one- and two-dimensional radiation transport problems, the results indicate that while the M1 model cannot accurately resolve multi-directional radiation transport occurring in low-absorption media, it does provide reasonably accurate solutions, both qualitatively and quantitatively, when compared to the DOM predictions in most of the test cases involving either absorbing-emitting or scattering media. The results also show that the M1 model is computationally less expensive than DOM for more realistic radiation transport problems involving scattering and complex geometries.