Applied mathematical methods for chemical engineers (Q2734570)

Qualitative chemical engineering to a great extent relies on describing the flow of mass, heat and momentum. The application of the pertinent laws of physical chemistry leads to mathematical models in the form of -- ordinary or partial -- differential equations. This book presents the rudiments of the theory, solution methods, principal examples, and methods of model setup involving differential equations in chemical engineering for use by those studying the subject. For establishing the models in the examples dealt with, the reader is referred to literature given at the end of each chapter. The following subjects are treated. First-order ODEs (separable, exact and homogeneous equations); linear second-order ODEs including Laplace transform methods; Sturm-Liouville problems including eigenfunction expansion; Fourier series and integrals; PDEs connected with the heat equation, methods of separation of variables and superposition including Laplace and Fourier transform, regular perturbation. A special chapter is devoted to numerous worked-out examples of PDE models of particular interest to chemical engineers. Two more chapters deal with dimensional analysis (Pi theorem) and scaling (boundary layer) which are essential for setting up mathematical models, as well as a selection of relevant numerical methods. An appendix summarizes matrices and determinants. Each chapter closes with a list of problems.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe author purposely avoids getting entangled in definition-theorem style mathematics, he rather bets on representative examples, comments in the context of chemical engineering and reference to the literature, and attitude no doubt adequate to reach the target group. Amazing how much material is covered this way. A pity is the vast number of misprints occurring in formulas; the list of more than three dozen that accompanies the book is not complete. In this respect let us hope for the next edition.