Description

After publication of the pioneering book Transport Phenomena by Bird; Stewart; and Lightfoot in 1960; educators everywhere recognized that the previous unit operations-unit processes organization of material for the curriculum of chemical engineers was inadequate for modern engineering education. Many schools found that the 1960 book was suitable for graduate courses and an excellent reference; but too difficult for most undergraduates; especially if the course was offered early in the curriculum. Others followed this pioneering effort by writing simpler versions.

This book was designed to provide an integrated treatment of the three areas of transport: momentum; heat; and mass. The similarities and the differences of the three transports are clearly stated at a level suitable for second-semester sophomores and first-semester juniors in engineering or the other sciences where the mathematics requirement is similar. Many of the basic equations are mathematically identical; when expressed in terms of the generalized flux and property variables.

This identity helps the student understand transport phenomena and forms the basis for the organization of the material here. A typical curriculum teaches momentum transfer before heat and mass because a complete treatment of these latter two is not possible without a prior discussion of fluid dynamics. This text allows heat transfer; which is encountered daily by everyone and easily visualized; to explain by analogy momentum transfer; which is not easily visualized or understood by neophytes.

Transport is rapidly becoming more widely used in most branches of engineering; and this text provides all engineering disciplines with a readable and otherwise useful treatment of this difficult subject. In most of the other books on this subject; these topics are covered separately. We believe that this text provides a solid foundation for engineering design and research. At the same time; some interesting and important problems are solved. A study of transport phenomena does not replace unit operations; but understanding of transport phenomena provides deeper insight into the fundamental processes occurring in the unit operations.

The engineer who masters the material in this text will be better able to analyze the unit operations he or she encounters. McGraw-Hill and the authors would like to express their thanks for the many useful comments and suggestions provided by colleagues who reviewed this text during the course of its development; especially Charles E. Hamrin; Jr.; University of Kentucky; Richard W. Mead; University of New Mexico; Robert Powell; University of California-Davis; and James Wei; Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Finally; the authors owe much thanks to many who have helped over the years with this project. A partial list (in alphabetical order) includes F. Bavarian; AM Cameron; JF Davis; L. Economikos; LS Fan; L. Fishler; KS Knaebel; SG Nychas; JY Oldshue; CE Patch; A. Syverson; GB Tatterson; JL Zakin; and the many typists who have helped with this effort.