CALCULATION OF RADIATION SHAPE FACTOR FOR PAIRS OF FLAT SURFACES USING CAD SOFTWARE

Radiation Shape factor calculation is the most important and costly part of solution process in calculating Radiation heat transfer between surfaces. There are a few computer programs that can calculate the shape factor and most of them have limited capabilities for this procedure. In this paper, the algorithm of a computer program written in VBA, that uses hemisphere method for calculating shape factor and can be run in AutoCAD, will be explained. A computer code is prepared based on the algorithm explained, in order to calculate the shape factor between two arbitrary 2D objects (region). The user will only have to select the two regions on the AutoCAD screen; the result will then be printed in a text file.