5 The MCRT Method for Participating Media

So far we have only considered energy interactions between rays and surfaces. Two possible outcomes – absorption and reflection – have been identified, and corresponding models have been formulated and used to describe radiation heat transfer among surfaces. When a ray incident to a surface is neither absorbed nor reflected, it is said to be transmitted. Thermal radiation passing through lenses, filters, and the earth’s atmosphere are familiar examples of transmission. This chapter deals with emission, absorption, refraction, and scattering of thermal radiation within a medium through which it is propagating. Such media are said to be “participating.”