# Radiation

Source: https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/radiation
Last updated: 2026-10-14

## Introduction

![img 595936b4d39ac](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595936b4d39ac.png)

In the **Radiation** panel, you can define settings related to radiation modeling.

## Enabling Radiation

![img 5959371bed9bd](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_5959371bed9bd.png)

Radiation models can be very computationally expensive. To reduce the simulation time you can take advantage of a few options.

The **Enable Radiation** input allows you to enable or disable radiation computation when it might not be necessary. In a typical situation, when doing a steady-state simulation, you would disable radiation during initial iterations when the flow field is very different from the final solution and computing costly radiation might not be beneficial. After the flow field starts to converge, you can enable radiation to get correct results with a minimal cost.

The **Solution Frequency** input provides similar benefits. It allows you to solve costly radiation equations only every N-th iteration. This can be beneficial since usually the flow field changes slowly from iteration to iteration and computing radiation in every step can be wasteful. This means that you are mostly using radiation sources computed from an older iteration. However, when the simulation converges, the flow field stops changing and the radiation becomes practically up-to-date.

## Radiation Modeling

![img 59593766eea81](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_59593766eea81.png)

There are three basic models you need to define to fully describe radiation. The three models are:

- **Radiation**
- **Absorption**
- **Scatter**

Each of the models has a default value **none** , which indicates that no modeling should be used for this aspect of radiation.

### Radiation Models

![img 595937c3ef6b4](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595937c3ef6b4.png)

**Radiation Model** is what actually computes the influence of radiation on the energy balance in the domain.

Available models are:

- **P1**
- **Discrete Ordinates**
- **Surface to Surface**

#### P1 Radiation Model

![img 595937feecccb](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595937feecccb.png)

The **P1** model is the simplest case of the more general PN model, which is based on the expansion of the radiation intensity \(I\) into an orthogonal series of spherical harmonics. It calculates radiative heat flux from the following expressions:

\(q_r=-\Gamma \nabla G\)

\(\Gamma=1/{3(a+\sigma_{eff})}\)

where:

- \(q_r\) - radiative heat flux
- \(G\) - incident radiation
- \(a\) - absorption coefficient
- \(\sigma_{eff}\) - effective scattering coefficient

Incident radiation \(G\) is calculated from the following equation:

\(\nabla \cdot (\Gamma \nabla G) -a G=-4e \sigma T^4 \)

where:

- \(\sigma\) - [Stefan-Boltzmann constant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_constant)
- \(e\) - emission coefficient
- \(T\) - temperature

The model is very computationally inexpensive. However, it should only be applied for models with large optical thickness ( \(\tau =aL>3\), where \(L\) is the distance between objects). Additionally, it assumes that all surfaces are diffuse, and it tends to overpredict radiative fluxes from localized heat sources and sinks.

#### Discrete Ordinates Radiation Model

![img 5959381fdd3f6](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_5959381fdd3f6.png)

The **Discrete Ordinates** radiation model solves the [radiative transfer equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiative_transfer#The_equation_of_radiative_transfer) for a finite number of directions in a participating medium without scatter. You define the number of directions by specifying the angular discretization. The model calculates radiation intensity by solving, for each of the directions, equations of the form:

\(\nabla \cdot (I(\vec s )\vec s) +aI(\vec s)=1 \pi (a \sigma T^4 -E/4)\)

where:

- \(\vec s\) - direction vector
- \(I(\vec s)\) - radiation intensity in the direction \(\vec s\)
- \(E\) - net emission contribution
- \(\sigma\) - [Stefan-Boltzmann constant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan%E2%80%93Boltzmann_constant)
- \(a\) - absorption coefficient
- \(T\) - temperature

**Inputs:**

- **\(n_\varphi\)** - number of divisions in the azimuthal direction
- **\(n_\theta\)** - number of divisions in the polar direction
- **Convergence** - convergence criteria for radiation equations
- **Max Iterations** - maximum number of iterations when solving radiation equations

**Note:** Increasing the number of divisions in each angular direction will very rapidly increase the computational cost. Use it with care.

#### Surface to Surface Radiation Model

![img 5959383711cd0](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_5959383711cd0.png)

The **Surface to Surface** radiation model uses [view factors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_factor) to compute radiative heat fluxes between boundaries. To reduce computational cost, view factors are not computed for each individual mesh face, but faces are grouped in clusters of a specified size.

**Inputs:**

- **Smoothing** - perform view factor matrix smoothing
- **Constant Emissivity** - perform optimizations for uniform emissivity
- **Faces Per Cluster** - number of faces in a face cluster
- **Feature Angle** - geometry feature angle
- **Max Rays** - maximum number of rays to use when calculating view factors

### Absorption Models

![img 5959388b65428](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_5959388b65428.png)

The **Absorption** model provides absorption and emission coefficients that are used by radiation models. Currently, available models:

- **Constant**

#### Constant Absorption/Emission Model

![img 595938a1be4eb](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595938a1be4eb.png)

The **Constant** model assumes that absorption and emission coefficients are fixed.

**Inputs:**

- **\(a [1/m]\)** - (absorptivity) absorption coefficient
- **\(e [1/m]\)** - (emissivity) emission coefficient
- **\(E [{kg}/m s^3]\)** - emission contribution

### Scatter Model

![img 595938f19c504](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595938f19c504.png)

The **Scatter** model provides radiation scattering coefficients. Currently available models:

- **Constant**

#### Constant Scatter Model

![img 59593904cbbb9](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_59593904cbbb9.png)

The **Constant** model assumes a constant scattering coefficient with optional anisotropy.

**Inputs:**

- **\(\sigma [1/m]\)** - scattering coefficient
- **\(C [-]\)** - linear-anisotropic phase function coefficient

## Solar Load Modeling

![img 59593958c1d53](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_59593958c1d53.png)

You have an option to add **Solar Load** to your simulation. This model introduces an additional radiation source that can be used to simulate solar radiation. When you **Enable Solar Load**, you need to specify models for:

- **Sun Direction**
- **Sun Load**

**Note:** The Solar Load model is only available when you are using the **Plus** version of OpenFOAM.

### Sun Direction

![img 595939ab85a87](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595939ab85a87.png)

The **Sun Direction** model defines from which direction the solar radiation is coming. Available models are:

- **Constant**
- **Sun Tracking**

#### Constant Sun Direction

![img 595939c0538b2](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595939c0538b2.png)

The **Constant** model assumes that the sun is “fixed” in the sky. This approach can be useful when the time scales of the simulations are small compared to the time scales of the sun motion.

**Inputs:**

- **Direction** - direction from which the solar radiation is incoming

#### Sun Tracking

![img 595939d455515](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_595939d455515.png)

The **Sun Tracking** model calculates the current sun position from local time, coordinates and mesh orientation. This model can only be used in transient simulations.

**Inputs:**

- **Local Meridian** - Local Zone Meridian in hours
- **Longitude** - longitude in degrees
- **Latitude** - latitude in degrees
- **Up Direction** - up direction of the mesh
- **East Direction** - east direction of the mesh
- **Start Day** - start day of the simulation
- **Start Time** - start time of the simulation in hours
- **Tracking Update Interval** - interval for updating sun direction

### Sun Load Modeling

![img 59593a1f5edc5](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_59593a1f5edc5.png)

The **Sun Load** model defines how much radiative energy is applied from the sun. Currently, available models:

- **Constant**

#### Constant Load Model

![img 59593a38b0bf1](https://help.sim-flow.com/documentation/panels/images/radiation/img_59593a38b0bf1.png)

The **Constant** sun load model assumes fixed values for direct and diffuse energy fluxes from the sun.

**Inputs:**

- **Direct** - direct energy flux
- **Diffuse** - diffuse energy flux