Heat Transfer Tools [Paperback]

"Heat Transfer Tools with CD-ROM" is the first resource to effectively link project-based learning to introductory Heat Transfer courses. This effective software package offers multiple projects developed to provide students with a new dimension in exploring design and working with open-ended problems. The CD-ROM, included with the text, offers assorted project work in a combination of spreadsheet formats, Visual Basic executables, Windows help files and Fortran .dll files. The interface is intuitive, providing graphics and boxes for inputting math information for each project, and leading students to a better understanding of major equations. The features are: students gain experience using the computer to explore designs and solve open-ended problems; the CD-ROM does not require any advanced systems resources - it will work on any Windows machine with basic memory resources (64K) and a graphics card; and modern, research-based numerical algorithms function behind the scenes in most of the nine "canned" modules. Thorough write-ups of most of these algorithms are included as "pdf" files on the CD-ROM. Modern custom user interfaces coupled with extensive use of graphical displays allow users to test parameters and to visualize and understand the underlying physics. This software was created solely for instruction use! The modules are not stripped-down versions of a professional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) package. With no extraneous inputs and outputs, these modules have virtually no learning curve. "Learning the software" is learning the heat transfer! In addition to the nine Visual Basic/Fortran modules, six projects intended for implementation by students are provided. A separate appendix on the CD-ROM teaches students everything they need to know about Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the extremely powerful and flexible programming language incorporated into Excel. Instructors can use these modules as lecture aids in a classroom equipped with a projection system or as the nucleus of a "hands-on" approach to heat transfer instruction in a computer classroom. All the "canned" modules can be verified for at least some parameters by comparison with traditional analytical solutions or experimental data. Verification of results is stressed throughout. This title introduces students to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) by application to simple, fundamental problems. In contrast, many practicing engineers are introduced to CFD only through two- or three-day short courses provided by vendors. Several of these modules have been under development for up to 15 years. Nearly all Visual Basic modules have been classroom-tested at the undergraduate level five times and at the graduate level twice. They have been debugged and enhanced extensively during that time.