Transport Phenomona

Many years ago, when I was still in college and needed a part-time job, some people asked me if I could solve heat and mass transfer problems. I said I wasn't sure, so they recommended the first edition of this book. I simply read the book and then asked them about the problems they were working on. They explained their problems in detail and hired me to work on them. And because of this book, I had no trouble solving them. This book opened up a whole new world to me. I've used it as a reference ever since. Of course, before I read this book, I had learned an enormous amount of pure mathematics and engineering mathematics. As well as fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. I think you need to be confident about your ability to handle the math to get full value from this text.

I first used BS & L over 30 years ago for my first Transport classes in Chemical Engineering. It's depth and breadth is such that it was a primary text for four other courses I took later in grad school. I pulled the book out a couple of days ago to review my understanding of heat transfer to help explain it to some youngsters. To those who complain that it has too much math...take up a new field. Math and science are inextricably linked. Science isn't just your high school teacher babbling about ecology and the "circle of life". This is hard science, the kind that builds nations and brings societies out of disease-infested environments. If you're using this text and can't take the heat, better get out of the kitchen.

This is one of the few MUST HAVE books for Chemical Engineers doing process engineering. When I travel (for work) I always take "Transport Phenomena" (aka BSL), The GPA Databook and "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers". When all the simple solutions to a problem have been exhausted, I pull out BSL, find an end-chapter problem similar to my own and work from there. A Practical Tip: The best thing to do with "Rules of Thumb for Chemical Engineers" is to carefuly remove the binding and put it into a 3-hole notebook (e.g., the GPA databook) and then file all the classic process design articles with the appropriate chapters.

This book progresses quite rapidly through the various topics; usually begining with a one dimentional analysis and then proceding to more general treatment. This more general treatment tends to consist of Tensor analysis which is explained to a working extent in an appendix. However, after these general equations have been derived they are only refefered to by there location out of a comprehensive chart. Furthermore, the student is trained to use intuition in their approach to problem solving.In general the text is incredibly consistant and well written. The examples and problems grow from a relitively basic level to those that can only be solved with advanced engineering Mathematics. The progression builds on itself in a nice way.

The most enduring text ever written for students of chemical engineering, BSL's "Transport Phenomena" leads the way with its study of momentum, energy, and mass transport. The structure and writing of the book make it unparalled in its usefulness to both beginning students of transport phenomena, and intermediate/advanced students looking for treatments of convective and turbulent transport, and mass transfer in reacting systems.