Temperature Distribution and Heat Radiation of Patterned Surfaces at Short Wave Lengths

Thorsten Emig 1, 2

Physical Review E , American Physical Society (APS), 2017, 95 (5), pp.052104

We analyze the equilibrium spatial distribution of surface temperatures of patterned surfaces. The surface is exposed to a constant external heat flux and has a fixed internal temperature that is coupled to the outside heat fluxes by finite heat conductivity across surface. It is assumed that the temperatures are sufficiently high so that the thermal wavelength (a few microns at room temperature) is short compared to all geometric length scales of the surface patterns. Hence the radiosity method can be employed. A recursive multiple scattering method is developed that enables rapid convergence to equilibrium temperatures. While the temperature distributions show distinct dependence on the detailed surface shapes (cuboids and cylinder are studied), we demonstrate robust universal relations between the mean and the standard deviation of the temperature distributions and quantities that characterize overall geometric features of the surface shape.

  • 1. MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • 2. LPTMS - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques