Numerical Simulation of Thermal Radiation Transmission in Complex Environment Based on Ray Tracing

Thermal radiation from high-yield airbursts constitutes a major damage mechanism. To address thermal radiation transmission in complex environments, a ray-tracing-based computational model is developed. This model incorporates atmospheric attenuation, fireball dynamic evolution, building shadowing, and ground/building reflections. Numerical results demonstrate that building shadowing and ground/building reflections significantly alter the thermal radiation distribution in such environments. The impact of ground and building reflections is directly related to surface reflectivity. At a reflectivity of 0.3, reflected radiation can reach 43% of the direct component. While multi-reflection effects are negligible at low reflectivity, they become significant at higher reflectivity values and must be considered in calculations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Applied Sciences
Published
2026-01-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app16021038
Primary Topic
Urban Heat Island Mitigation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Numerical Simulation of Thermal Radiation Transmission in Complex Environment Based on Ray Tracing

Xianghua Zhang, Zhenfeng Li, Hui Yan, Yu Lei et al.
Applied Sciences
Urban Heat Island Mitigation
article

Numerical Simulation of Thermal Radiation Transmission in Complex Environment Based on Ray Tracing

Xianghua Zhang, Zhenfeng Li, Hui Yan, Yu Lei, Yingbo Gao, Zhaoyang Peng
article en

Abstract

Thermal radiation from high-yield airbursts constitutes a major damage mechanism. To address thermal radiation transmission in complex environments, a ray-tracing-based computational model is developed. This model incorporates atmospheric attenuation, fireball dynamic evolution, building shadowing, and ground/building reflections. Numerical results demonstrate that building shadowing and ground/building reflections significantly alter the thermal radiation distribution in such environments. The impact of ground and building reflections is directly related to surface reflectivity. At a reflectivity of 0.3, reflected radiation can reach 43% of the direct component. While multi-reflection effects are negligible at low reflectivity, they become significant at higher reflectivity values and must be considered in calculations.

Applied SciencesVol. 16(2)
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (CN)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 85%
Urban Heat Island Mitigation
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Numerical Simulation of Thermal Radiation Transmission in Complex Environment Based on Ray Tracing — Xianghua Zhang, Zhenfeng Li, et al. · Applied Sciences (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS