The practice of recent radiative transfer Monte Carlo advances and its contribution to the field of microorganisms cultivation in photobioreactors

The present text illustrates the practice of integral formulation, zero-variance approaches and sensitivity evaluations in the field of radiative transfer Monte Carlo simulation, as well as the practical implementation of the corresponding algorithms, for such realistic systems as photobioreactors involving spectral integration, multiple scattering and complex geometries. We try to argue that even in such non-academic contexts, strong benefits can be expected from the effort of translating the considered Monte Carlo algorithm into a rigorously equivalent integral formulation. Modifying the initial algorithm to simultaneously compute sensitivities is then straightforward (except for domain deformation sensitivities) and the question of enhancing convergence is turned into that of modeling a set of well identified physical quantities.

► We illustrate the practice of recent radiative transfer Monte Carlo advances. ► This study implies spectral integration and multiple scattering in complex geometry. ► The integral formulation of a Monte Carlo algorithm is constructed. ► This formulation is modified in order to estimate sensitivities to parameters. ► Convergence of the initial algorithm is enhanced using the zero-variance methodology.