Circuit model to compute the radiative heat transfer in multilayer structures

The new computational method is dedicated to multilayer stacks with step-wise temperature distribution. It is based on the modelling of radiative heat transfer in terms of impedance matrices whose components can be decomposed to circuit (RLC) parameters. The model is as strict as the Green function method developed by J.-J. Greffet, P. Ben-Abdallah, and S.-A. Biehs, but it is applicable also to anistropic layers and layers with spatial dispersion. The method allows the numerically simulation of the radiative heat transfer in multilayer stacks which could not be simulated previously.