A k-Distribution-Based Spectral Module for Radiation Calculations in Multi-Phase Mixtures Available to Purchase

k-distribution-based approaches are promising models for radiation calculations in strongly nongray participating media. Advanced k-distribution methods were found to achieve close-to benchmark line-by-line (LBL) accuracy for strongly inhomogeneous multi-phase media accompanied by several orders of magnitude smaller computational cost. In this paper, a k-distribution-based portable spectral module is developed, incorporating several state-of-the-art k-distribution methods along with compact and high-accuracy databases of k-distributions. The module construction is flexible — the user can choose among various k-distribution methods with their relevant k-distribution databases, to carry out accurate radiation calculations. The spectral module is portable, such that it can be coupled to any flow solver code with its own grid structure, discretization scheme, and solver libraries. This open source code module is made available for free for all noncommercial purposes. This article outlines in detail the design and the use of the spectral module. The k-distribution methods included in the module are briefly described with a discussion of their advantages, disadvantages and their domain of applicability. Examples are provided for various sample radiation calculations in multi-phase mixtures using the new spectral module and the results are compared with LBL calculations.