ABSTRACT
To determine how radiative energy is transferred between surfaces, one must know how the various surfaces “see” one another. This chapter presents various methods to determine the view factors required for radiation heat transfer analysis. Hottel’s crossed string method is presented in detail as a method to determine view factors for many 2-D geometries. While 3-D configurations require advanced mathematical techniques, such as area integration, geometries seen in common engineering applications are presented for the readers. In addition, the Reciprocity and Summation Rules are provided and demonstrated to fully define radiation exchange between isothermal surfaces. Furthermore, this chapter provides many examples of calculating view factors for a variety of configurations.
