ABSTRACT
The Monte Carlo (MC) method offers many advantages over traditional deterministic approaches. MC simulations of radiative transport problems often amount to carrying out integration over a large number of dimensions, and in this context the technique particularly shines. An important attribute of MC is that it facilitates uncertainty quantification, which can otherwise be difficult to obtain for deterministic simulations. In the case of surface-to-surface radiation, the control function may simply be the blackbody intensity at an appropriate reference temperature, while the deviational intensity is governed by a deviational radiative transfer equation (RTE). Calculating radiation between nonblack surfaces is even more complicated, especially if the surface properties vary with direction and wavelength. Interpreting Monte Carlo as an integration technique highlights some possibilities that are not otherwise apparent from a strictly physical interpretation of ray-tracing RTE photons.
