Modeling Specular Exchange Between Concentric Cylinders in a Radiative Shielded Furnace

The objective of this research is to develop and validate mathematical models to characterize the thermal performance of a radiative shielded furnace, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Isothermal Diffusion Oven. The mathematical models are validated against experimental data obtained from testing the breadboard oven in a terrestrial laboratory environment. It is anticipated that the validation will produce math models capable of predicting the thermal performance of the furnace over a wide range of operating conditions, including those for which no experimental data is available. Of particular interest is the furnace core temperature versus heater power parametric and the transient thermal response of the furnace. Application to a microgravity environment is not considered, although it is conjectured that the removal of any gravity dependent terms from the math models developed for the terrestrial application should yield adequate results in a microgravity environment. The UAH Isothermal Diffusion Oven is designed to provide a thermal environment that is conducive to measuring the diffusion of high temperature liquid metals. In addition to achieving the temperatures required to melt a sample placed within the furnace, reducing or eliminating convective motions within the melt is an important design consideration [1]. Both of these influences are reflected in the design of the furnace. Reducing unwanted heat losses from the furnace is achieved through the use of low conductivity materials and reflective shielding. As evidenced by the highly conductive copper core used to house the sample within the furnace, convective motions can be greatly suppressed by providing an essentially uniform thermal environment. An oven of this design could ultimately be utilized in a microgravity environment, presumably as a experiment payload. Such an application precipitates other design requirements that limit the resources available to the furnace such as power, mass, volume, and possibly even time. Through the experimental and numerical results obtained, the power requirements and thermal response time of the breadboard furnace are quantified.