Coaxial radiative and convective heat transfer in gray and nongray gases
Coupled radiative and convective heat transfer is investigated for an absorbing gas flowing in a finite length channel and heated by blackbody radiation directed along the flow axis. The problem is formulated in one dimension and numerical solutions are obtained for the temperature profile of the gas and for the radiation escaping the channel entrance, assuming both gray and nongray absorption spectra. Due to radiation trapping, the flowing gas is found to have substantially smaller radiation losses for a given peak gas temperature than a solid surface that is radiatively heated to this temperature. A greenhouse effect is also evident whereby radiation losses are minimized for a gas having stronger absorption at long wavelengths.