The thermal analysis of a satellite by an in-house computer code based on Thermal Network Method and Monte Carlo Ray Tracing Technique

Abstract

In this paper, the development of an in-house computer code for the thermal analysis of satellites is discussed. The code is based on Thermal Network Method (TNM) in conjunction with Method of Lines (MOL) for the solution of energy equation. The view factors required for the computation of radiative exchange factors which are used in TNM are calculated by a newly developed module based on Monte-Carlo Ray Tracing Technique. The predictive accuracy of the code including the new module was assessed on a realistic test problem involving a satellite orbiting the earth at an altitude of 700 km. Comparison of transient results obtained by the in-house code and a commercial thermal analysis software package (Thermica-SINDA/G) has shown that the in-house code predictions mimic the ones obtained by Thermica-SINDA/G very accurately.