Transport phenomena

For the textbook, see Transport Phenomena (book).

Part of a series on
Chemical engineering
Outline History Index
Fundamentals
Industry Engineer Process Unit operations Kinetics Transport phenomena
Unit processes
Chemical plant Chemical reactor Separation processes
Aspects
Heat transfer Mass transfer Fluid dynamics Process design Process control Chemical thermodynamics Reaction engineering
Glossaries
Glossary of chemistry Glossary of engineering
Category

In engineering, physics and chemistry, the study of transport phenomena concerns the exchange of mass, energy, charge, momentum and angular momentum between observed and studied systems. While it draws from fields as diverse as continuum mechanics and thermodynamics, it places a heavy emphasis on the commonalities between the topics covered. Mass, momentum, and heat transport all share a very similar mathematical framework, and the parallels between them are exploited in the study of transport phenomena to draw deep mathematical connections that often provide very useful tools in the analysis of one field that are directly derived from the others.

The fundamental analyses in all three subfields of mass, heat, and momentum transfer are often grounded in the simple principle that the sum total of the quantities being studied must be conserved by the system and its environment. Thus, the different phenomena that lead to transport are each considered individually with the knowledge that the sum of their contributions must equal zero. This principle is useful for calculating many relevant quantities. For example, in fluid mechanics, a common use of transport analysis is to determine the velocity profile of a fluid flowing through a rigid volume.

Transport phenomena are ubiquitous throughout the engineering disciplines. Some of the most common examples of transport analysis in engineering are seen in the fields of process, chemical, biological, and mechanical engineering, but the subject is a fundamental component of the curriculum in all disciplines involved in any way with fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and mass transfer. It is now considered to be a part of the engineering discipline as much as thermodynamics, mechanics, and electromagnetism.

Transport phenomena encompass all agents of physical change in the universe. Moreover, they are considered to be fundamental building blocks which developed the universe, and which is responsible for the success of all life on earth. However, the scope here is limited to the relationship of transport phenomena to artificial engineered systems.

Overview

In physics, transport phenomena are all irreversible processes of statistical nature stemming from the random continuous motion of molecules, mostly observed in fluids. Every aspect of transport phenomena is grounded in two primary concepts : the conservation laws, and the constitutive equations. The conservation laws, which in the context of transport phenomena are formulated as continuity equations, describe how the quantity being studied must be conserved. The constitutive equations describe how the quantity in question responds to various stimuli via transport. Prominent examples include Fourier's Law of Heat Conduction and the Navier-Stokes equations, which describe, respectively, the response of heat flux to temperature gradients and the relationship between fluid flux and the forces applied to the fluid. These equations also demonstrate the deep connection between transport phenomena and thermodynamics, a connection that explains why transport phenomena are irreversible. Almost all of these physical phenomena ultimately involve systems seeking their lowest energy state in keeping with the principle of minimum energy. As they approach this state, they tend to achieve true thermodynamic equilibrium, at which point there are no longer any driving forces in the system and transport ceases. The various aspects of such equilibrium are directly connected to a specific transport: heat transfer is the system's attempt to achieve thermal equilibrium with its environment, just as mass and momentum transport move the system towards chemical and mechanical equilibrium.

Examples of transport processes include heat conduction (energy transfer), fluid flow (momentum transfer), molecular diffusion (mass transfer), radiation and electric charge transfer in semiconductors.

Transport phenomena have wide application. For example, in solid state physics, the motion and interaction of electrons, holes and phonons are studied under "transport phenomena". Another example is in biomedical engineering, where some transport phenomena of interest are thermoregulation, perfusion, and microfluidics. In chemical engineering, transport phenomena are studied in reactor design, analysis of molecular or diffusive transport mechanisms, and metallurgy.

The transport of mass, energy, and momentum can be affected by the presence of external sources:

• An odor dissipates more slowly (and may intensify) when the source of the odor remains present.
• The rate of cooling of a solid that is conducting heat depends on whether a heat source is applied.
• The gravitational force acting on a rain drop counteracts the resistance or drag imparted by the surrounding air.

Commonalities among phenomena

An important principle in the study of transport phenomena is analogy between phenomena.

Diffusion

There are some notable similarities in equations for momentum, energy, and mass transfer which can all be transported by diffusion, as illustrated by the following examples:

• Mass: the spreading and dissipation of odors in air is an example of mass diffusion.
• Energy: the conduction of heat in a solid material is an example of heat diffusion.
• Momentum: the drag experienced by a rain drop as it falls in the atmosphere is an example of momentum diffusion (the rain drop loses momentum to the surrounding air through viscous stresses and decelerates).

The molecular transfer equations of Newton's law for fluid momentum, Fourier's law for heat, and Fick's law for mass are very similar. One can convert from one transfer coefficient to another in order to compare all three different transport phenomena.

Comparison of diffusion phenomena

Transported quantity	Physical phenomenon	Equation
Momentum	Viscosity (Newtonian fluid)	$\tau =-\nu {\frac {\partial \rho \upsilon }{\partial x}}$
Energy	Heat conduction (Fourier's law)	${\frac {q}{A}}=-k{\frac {dT}{dx}}$
Mass	Molecular diffusion (Fick's law)	$J=-D{\frac {\partial C}{\partial x}}$

(Definitions of these formulas are given below).

A great deal of effort has been devoted in the literature to developing analogies among these three transport processes for turbulent transfer so as to allow prediction of one from any of the others. The Reynolds analogy assumes that the turbulent diffusivities are all equal and that the molecular diffusivities of momentum (μ/ρ) and mass (D_AB) are negligible compared to the turbulent diffusivities. When liquids are present and/or drag is present, the analogy is not valid. Other analogies, such as von Karman's and Prandtl's, usually result in poor relations.

The most successful and most widely used analogy is the Chilton and Colburn J-factor analogy. This analogy is based on experimental data for gases and liquids in both the laminar and turbulent regimes. Although it is based on experimental data, it can be shown to satisfy the exact solution derived from laminar flow over a flat plate. All of this information is used to predict transfer of mass.

Onsager reciprocal relations

Main article: Onsager reciprocal relations

In fluid systems described in terms of temperature, matter density, and pressure, it is known that temperature differences lead to heat flows from the warmer to the colder parts of the system; similarly, pressure differences will lead to matter flow from high-pressure to low-pressure regions (a "reciprocal relation"). What is remarkable is the observation that, when both pressure and temperature vary, temperature differences at constant pressure can cause matter flow (as in convection) and pressure differences at constant temperature can cause heat flow. Perhaps surprisingly, the heat flow per unit of pressure difference and the density (matter) flow per unit of temperature difference are equal.

This equality was shown to be necessary by Lars Onsager using statistical mechanics as a consequence of the time reversibility of microscopic dynamics. The theory developed by Onsager is much more general than this example and capable of treating more than two thermodynamic forces at once.

Momentum transfer

In momentum transfer, the fluid is treated as a continuous distribution of matter. The study of momentum transfer, or fluid mechanics can be divided into two branches: fluid statics (fluids at rest), and fluid dynamics (fluids in motion). When a fluid is flowing in the x-direction parallel to a solid surface, the fluid has x-directed momentum, and its concentration is υ_xρ. By random diffusion of molecules there is an exchange of molecules in the z-direction. Hence the x-directed momentum has been transferred in the z-direction from the faster- to the slower-moving layer. The equation for momentum transport is Newton's Law of Viscosity written as follows:

$\tau _{zx}=-\nu {\frac {\partial \rho \upsilon _{x}}{\partial z}}$

where τ_zx is the flux of x-directed momentum in the z-direction, ν is μ/ρ, the momentum diffusivity, z is the distance of transport or diffusion, ρ is the density, and μ is the dynamic viscosity. Newton's Law is the simplest relationship between the flux of momentum and the velocity gradient.

Heat & Mass transfer

When a system contains two or more components whose concentration vary from point to point, there is a natural tendency for mass to be transferred, minimizing any concentration difference within the system. Mass Transfer in a system is governed by Fick's First Law: 'Diffusion flux from higher concentration to lower concentration is proportional to the gradient of the concentration of the substance and the diffusivity of the substance in the medium.' Mass transfer can take place due to different driving forces. Some of them are:

• Mass can be transferred by the action of a pressure gradient (pressure diffusion)
• Forced diffusion occurs because of the action of some external force
• Diffusion can be caused by temperature gradients (thermal diffusion)
• Diffusion can be caused by differences in chemical potential

This can be compared to Fick's Law of Diffusion, for a species A in a binary mixture consisting of A and B:

$J_{Ay}=-D_{AB}{\frac {\partial Ca}{\partial y}}$

where D is the diffusivity constant.

Energy transfer

All processes in engineering involve the transfer of energy. Some examples are the heating and cooling of process streams, phase changes, distillations, etc. The basic principle is the first law of thermodynamics which is expressed as follows for a static system:

$q=-k{\frac {dT}{dx}}$

The net flux of energy through a system equals the conductivity times the rate of change of temperature with respect to position.

For other systems that involve either turbulent flow, complex geometries or difficult boundary conditions another equation would be easier to use:

$Q=h\cdot A\cdot {\Delta T}$

where A is the surface area, :${\Delta T}$ is the temperature driving force, Q is the heat flow per unit time, and h is the heat transfer coefficient.

Within heat transfer, two types of convection can occur:

Forced convection can occur in both laminar and turbulent flow. In the situation of laminar flow in circular tubes, several dimensionless numbers are used such as Nusselt number, Reynolds number, and Prandtl. The commonly used equation is:

$Nu_{a}={\frac {h_{a}D}{k}}$

Natural or free convection is a function of Grashof and Prandtl numbers. The complexities of free convection heat transfer make it necessary to mainly use empirical relations from experimental data.

Heat transfer is analyzed in packed beds, reactors and heat exchangers.

See also

• Constitutive equation
• Continuity equation
• Wave propagation
• Pulse
• Action potential
• Bioheat transfer

External links

• Transport Phenomena Archive in the Teaching Archives of the Materials Digital Library Pathway
• "Some Classical Transport Phenomena Problems with Solutions - Fluid Mechanics".
• "Some Classical Transport Phenomena Problems with Solutions - Heat Transfer".
• "Some Classical Transport Phenomena Problems with Solutions - Mass Transfer".