Fluid Mechanics for Chemical Engineers: with Microfluidics, CFD, and COMSOL Multiphysics 5, Edition 3

James O. Wilkes

Jul 2017 · Prentice Hall

About this eBook

The Chemical Engineer's Practical Guide to Fluid Mechanics: Now Includes COMSOL Multiphysics 5

Since most chemical processing applications are conducted either partially or totally in the fluid phase, chemical engineers need mastery of fluid mechanics. Such knowledge is especially valuable in the biochemical, chemical, energy, fermentation, materials, mining, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, polymer, and waste-processing industries.

Fluid Mechanics for Chemical Engineers: with Microfluidics, CFD, and COMSOL Multiphysics 5, Third Edition, systematically introduces fluid mechanics from the perspective of the chemical engineer who must understand actual physical behavior and solve real-world problems. Building on the book that earned Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Title award, this edition also gives a comprehensive introduction to the popular COMSOL Multiphysics 5 software.

This third edition contains extensive coverage of both microfluidics and computational fluid dynamics, systematically demonstrating CFD through detailed examples using COMSOL Multiphysics 5 and ANSYS Fluent. The chapter on turbulence now presents valuable CFD techniques to investigate practical situations such as turbulent mixing and recirculating flows.

Part I offers a clear, succinct, easy-to-follow introduction to macroscopic fluid mechanics, including physical properties; hydrostatics; basic rate laws; and fundamental principles of flow through equipment. Part II turns to microscopic fluid mechanics:

• Differential equations of fluid mechanics
• Viscous-flow problems, some including polymer processing
• Laplace's equation; irrotational and porous-media flows
• Nearly unidirectional flows, from boundary layers to lubrication, calendering, and thin-film applications
• Turbulent flows, showing how the k-ε method extends conventional mixing-length theory
• Bubble motion, two-phase flow, and fluidization
• Non-Newtonian fluids, including inelastic and viscoelastic fluids
• Microfluidics and electrokinetic flow effects, including electroosmosis, electrophoresis, streaming potentials, and electroosmotic switching
• Computational fluid mechanics with ANSYS Fluent and COMSOL Multiphysics

Nearly 100 completely worked practical examples include 12 new COMSOL 5 examples: boundary layer flow, non-Newtonian flow, jet flow, die flow, lubrication, momentum diffusion, turbulent flow, and others. More than 300 end-of-chapter problems of varying complexity are presented, including several from University of Cambridge exams. The author covers all material needed for the fluid mechanics portion of the professional engineer's exam.

The author's website (fmche.engin.umich.edu) provides additional notes, problem-solving tips, and errata.

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About the author

James O. Wilkes is Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he served as department chairman and assistant dean for admissions. From 1989 to 1992, he was an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor. Wilkes coauthored Applied Numerical Methods (Wiley, 1969) and Digital Computing and Numerical Methods (Wiley, 1973). He received his bachelors degree from the University of Cambridge and his M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. His research interests involve numerical methods for solving a wide variety of engineering problems.