Transport Phenomena, 2nd Edition
By R. Byron Bird, Warren E. Stewart, Edwin N. Lightfoot
* Publisher: Wiley
* Number Of Pages: 912
* Publication Date: 2001-07-25
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0471410772
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780471410775
* Binding: Hardcover
Book Description:
Careful attention is paid to the presentation of the basic theory.
* Enhanced sections throughout text provide much firmer foundation than the first edition.
* Literature citations are given throughout for reference to additional material.
Summary: Transport Phenomena
Rating: 5
Anyone who either teaches the subject Transport Phenomena in Chemical Engineering or related departments, or anyone who is involved in transport-related research, would know the importance of this book: it is simply the gold standard because it treated all the three transport subjects (Momentum, Heat and Mass) in one book. It is rare to find other textbooks that cover all the three subjects to the depth one wishes to be covered. I like the footnotes that are embedded at the bottom of the pages to provide quick information on how and when the particular Section or Chapter is developed by those who studied and formulated it. It also constantly reminds the reader about those pioneers in the field. This last point is particularly useful to researchers more than to the undergraduates. It is a textbook that survived the taste of time for nearly 50 years.
Summary: A true chemical engineering classic
Rating: 5
Transport Phenomenon by Bird, Stewart and Lightfoot is one of the most useful chemical engineering textbook ever written. For nearly five decades now, many chemical engineers have lived by what they learned first through this book. The revised edition makes the book current, though 1960 edition is great introduction to the mass, heat and energy and/or momentum transfer problems.
The basis idea of the book is simple: list the equations useful for a system of problems, say in mass transfer; provide set of assumptions used to arrive at those; suggest possible solutions to the differential equations for practical industry conditions; use correlations derived by researchers where real time data is unavailable and lastly, learn how to adapt solutions for different set of conditions. The book attempts to make problem solving into a set of instructions to be followed, and by sticking to the fundamental assumptions and equations allows one to attack a range of problems relevant to fields as diverse as diffusion transport, biochemical processes, condensation problems for atmospheric physics, chemical kinetics, heat conduction, petroleum extraction and flow of fluids relevant to many processing industries.
We often hailed it as the Bible of Chemical Engineering. Every now and then, (nearly a decade after we first read it) I still hear people say: this problem, or something like it, was in BSL, (the acronym awarded to the book after its authors). Be it Transport texts by Deen or Middleman typically used for graduate school courses, or Incompressible Flow by Patton, the recourse to understanding problems first hand through BSL is always rewarding.
The book comes with a number of solved and unsolved problems. There is no short-cut to becoming a good chemical engineer, except by mastering the art and science of attacking problems. By going through the book meticulously right in your first course, (for in most cases, this is the first chemical engineering text encountered), you can ensure that you will do well in your whole education as chemical engineer.
Recommended reference for all chemical engineers.
Summary: Reintroducing an old friend in a new suit
Rating: 5
Most chemical engineers grew up with BSL. For myself, I found out what the graduate students were using. The old red-back version was intimidating. It was hard to use. The calculus was, and is, generally over my head. But... after reading through a few problems, the mathematics seemed familiar, the approach seemed to explain all my questions and the solution was, if not directly applicable, one that I could borrow for a difficult problem.
I remember once working on a product development for Andrew Jergens. My goal was to estimate the production capacity of a stepwise batch process. Others would ultimately use my numbers to estimate the price of the product. I had to get it right! One step involved melting this wax, a synthetic whale wax, over an electric heater. I knew the BTU output but there were several physical constraints. After a few sleepless nights and pawing through the University of Cincinnati library I was stumped. Then, I started looking through BSL.Oui la! There is a problem on de-frosting turkeys ¯ a real life practical application of heat transfer; supposedly, this is how Birdseye came up with the table you see on the outside of turkey wrappings on Thanksgiving.
It did not take me long to see the application. I spent a morning doing lab experiments for my physical properties and the afternoon fitting the measurements to their procedure. The method worked.
The second edition has much better graphics and a good index. The index and table of contents in the first edition made the book unwieldy.
I recently became interested in calculating the heat-up time in a hydrolysis bed. One of the crucial problems was calculating h', the volumetric heat transfer coefficient (BTU/hr-cubic feet-F: h X l). There is an excellent method developed by Shumann in another great book: Kern's "Process Heat Transfer." BSL presents a method for estimating h that can be transformed into h' by:
h' = h X Ac/V, where Ac=cross area; V=volume of bed. With the old version, finding this section of the book was very time consuming. The second edition made it easy.
There is one downside of the 2nd edition. To make it easier to read, the publisher increased its length and width. Unfortunately, as experience has born out, this tends to make a book more prone to shearing along its binding. I intent to wrap this book in heavy plastic to add some reinforcement. I suggest you do likewise.
I will keep you posted as I continue to use this book. I may give my old red-back to some younger engineer ---to knaw on the edges before they ask me for the answer.
http://ifile.it/jpz9e2/bird__r._b.__2001_._transport_phenomena__2nd_ed._.rar
