01 / Reading Guide
Reading Guide
Citation
Ghiaasiaan, S. M. (2018). Convective Heat and Mass Transfer (2nd ed.). CRC Press.
Chapter Summary
The second edition runs to 652 pages and 14 chapters plus an appendix. The chapters move from fundamentals and boundary-layer theory through laminar and turbulent forced convection to natural and mixed convection, then to turbulence modelling and two specialised topics. Mass transfer is treated alongside heat transfer rather than in a separate section, a feature one reviewer singles out.
Chapter 1: Thermophysical and Transport Fundamentals
The opening chapter covers thermophysical and transport fundamentals before the convection chapters begin.
Chapter 2: Boundary Layers
Introduces boundary layers, the subject of the chapters that follow on laminar and turbulent flow.
Chapter 3: External Laminar Flow: Similarity Solutions for Forced Laminar Boundary Layers
Develops similarity solutions for forced laminar boundary layers on external surfaces.
Chapter 4: Internal Laminar Flow
Treats laminar flow inside ducts.
Chapter 5: Integral Methods
Presents integral methods for convection problems.
Chapter 6: Fundamentals of Turbulence and External Turbulent Flow
Introduces the basic features of turbulence and applies them to external turbulent flow.
Chapter 7: Internal Turbulent Flow
Turbulent counterpart of Chapter 4: turbulent flow inside ducts.
Chapter 8: Effect of Transpiration on Friction, Heat and Mass Transfer
Considers how transpiration at a surface changes friction and heat and mass transfer.
Chapter 9: Analogy among Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer Processes
Develops the analogies among momentum, heat and mass transfer processes.
Chapter 10: Natural Convection
Moves from forced convection to flows driven by buoyancy.
Chapter 11: Mixed Convection
Treats situations in which forced and natural convection act together.
Chapter 12: Turbulence Transport Models
Covers turbulence transport models.
Chapter 13: Flow and Heat Transfer in Miniature Channels
Addresses flow and heat transfer in miniature channels, one of the topics the reviewers and publisher mention as recent.
Chapter 14: Diffusion and Convective Transport of Particles
The chapter added in the second edition, on the diffusion and convective transport of particles. One reviewer calls it a unique addition to the book.
Key Concepts
Chapters 1–5: Fundamentals and laminar convection
- Boundary layers: the region near a surface in which flow, heat and mass transfer are analysed, introduced in Chapter 2.
- Similarity solutions: the method used for forced laminar boundary layers on external surfaces (Chapter 3).
- Integral methods: the approach of Chapter 5 to convection problems.
Chapters 6–9: Turbulence and analogies
- Turbulent external and internal flow: the turbulent counterparts to the laminar treatment.
- Transpiration: surface mass transfer and its effect on friction, heat and mass transfer.
- Momentum-heat-mass analogy: the relationships among the three transport processes (Chapter 9).
Chapters 10–14: Buoyancy, models and specialised topics
- Natural and mixed convection: buoyancy-driven and combined flows.
- Turbulence transport models: models for predicting turbulent transport.
- Miniature channels and particle transport: topics that the publisher and reviewers describe as recent.
Critical Analysis
Strengths
- Heat and mass transfer together. Hooman Tafreshi (Virginia Commonwealth University), quoted by the publisher, singles out the strong emphasis on teaching mass transfer along with heat transfer in every chapter.
- Recent topics. Nevzat Onur (Cankaya University), also quoted by the publisher, notes coverage of recent topics such as flow in microchannels and nanofluids. The publisher cites nanoscale heat transfer and CFD.
- Scope for several disciplines. The publisher describes the book as appropriate for both mechanical and chemical engineering courses, and Tafreshi's review names mechanical, chemical, nuclear and biomedical engineering.
- Concise but in depth. Tafreshi describes the book as an in-depth yet concise analysis of heat, mass and momentum transfer fundamentals.
Limitations
- Graduate level. The publisher describes the book as ideal for graduate study, so it is not a first course in heat transfer; readers need a prior undergraduate treatment.
- Convection only. The table of contents is devoted to convection and transport analogies, with no chapters on conduction, radiation or heat exchangers.
- Black-and-white illustrations. The publisher lists 189 black-and-white illustrations in a book of 652 pages.
Where It Fits in the Course
Ghiaasiaan is the specialist convection text in this course list. Lienhard's A Heat Transfer Textbook, Bergman and colleagues' Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, Çengel and Ghajar's Heat and Mass Transfer, Nellis and Klein's Introduction to Engineering Heat Transfer and Kreith and Manglik's Principles of Heat Transfer are general heat transfer textbooks that cover convection along with other modes of transfer. Any of them is the place to start; Ghiaasiaan follows when the convection chapters of those books are no longer enough.
Within that group, Bergman and colleagues describe the material as requiring prior thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and calculus, and Nellis and Klein pair derivations with computational tools; both are reasonable preparation for the greater depth of Ghiaasiaan's boundary-layer, turbulence and analogy chapters.
How to Use This Book
The book is written for graduate students and for practising engineers in mechanical, chemical and related fields. An undergraduate heat transfer course and some fluid mechanics are the sensible starting point.
A practical plan:
- Core: Chapters 1–4 and 9 for the laminar boundary-layer picture and the transport analogies, then Chapters 6–7 for turbulent flow.
- Methods: Chapter 5 covers integral methods and can be read after Chapters 3 and 4.
- Applications and extensions: Chapters 10–11 for buoyancy-driven problems, Chapter 12 for turbulence modelling, Chapters 13–14 for microscale and particle transport.
Read each chapter's heat transfer and mass transfer results side by side, since the analogy chapter builds on both.
Because the chapters run from general fundamentals to specialised topics, a reader with a specific interest can read the fundamentals and then go straight to the relevant later chapter: natural convection, turbulence modelling, microscale flow or particle transport. Readers coming from chemical engineering may start with the analogy chapter, since it links the heat transfer results to the mass transfer ones.