Emissivity of discretized diffusion problems

The numerical modeling of radiative transfer by the diffusion approximation can produce artificially damped radiation propagation if spatial cells are too optically thick. In this paper, we investigate this nonphysical behavior at external problem boundaries by examining the emissivity of the discretized diffusion approximation. We demonstrate that the standard cell-centered discretization produces an emissivity that is too low for optically thick cells, a situation that leads to the lack of radiation propagation. We then present a modified boundary condition that yields an accurate emissivity regardless of cell size. This modified boundary condition can be used with a deterministic calculation or as part of a hybrid transport-diffusion method for increasing the efficiency of Monte Carlo simulations. We also discuss the range of applicability, as a function of cell size and material properties, when this modified boundary condition is employed in a hybrid technique. With a set of numerical calculations, we demonstrate the accuracy and usefulness of this modified boundary condition.