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A History of the Modern British Chemical Industry.
Chemical Engineering Science, 1967, Vol. 22, pp. 481-482. Pergamon Press Ltd., Oxford.
H. H. R~~ENBROCKand C. STOREY: Computational Techniques for Chernlcal Engineers. Pergamon Press, 1966. xv+328 pp., Gl4s.
Printed in Great Britain.
THE RISE of the computer since the second world war has forced on mathematicians a deeper development of numerical analysis and on engineers and others the application of these methods. It has resulted in a spate of textbooks, monographs and handbooks on numerical methods and computational techniques adapted, like Canon Chasuble’s sermon, “to almost any occasion”. The publication of so sound and well-written a book as Rosenbrock and Storey’s is therefore a particularly welcome event, for here is a work informed at every stage by the authors’ practical experience with the use of computers for chemical engineering problems. Apart from passing mention in the introductory chapter there are two chapters devoted to the operation of computers, the second, which is a very clear introduction to the general structure of the digital computer and its programming, and the eleventh which provides similar instruction concerning analogue machines. Between these two chapters a number of topics which can be broadly classified as design or equation solving are treated. Design is introduced in the third chapter by showing how the capacities of the computer can be exploited in the simpler design problems. However since optimization must always be an element of good design work, the fourth chapter immediately introduces the techniques of hill climbing. Some of these are described and a careful comparison made between them by proving them on three test functions; linear and non-linear programming are only mentioned in passing. It is unfortunately inevitable that, with the delays of modern publishing, it iri never possible to describe the very latest results. In their suggestions for further reading and list of references, the authors have done as much as is possible to inform the reader of more recent developments. Hill-climbing methods are applied in the next two chapters to optimization in design and the solution of algebraic equations, a link with the second broad area of concern, that of solving equations.
The solution of partial and simultaneous differential equations is treated in a substantial chapter and the exposition is notable for its clarity and the motivation provided by the examples introduced. The most original chapter in the book is the eighth, on the estimation of parameters in differential equations. The prime importance of such inverse problems needs no emphasizing, but this is the first time I recall its being treated in any textbook. The basic idea is to search for the values of the parameters which give the beat fit of the solution of the equations to the observations in a least squares sense; their treatment of the confidence limits of the estimated parameters is particularly valuable. Returning to the theme of optimization, gradient methods in function space, Pontryagin’s principle and dynamic programming are described in the ninth chapter and the discussion of optimum temperature profiles in the tenth serves to compare these and other methods. The concluding chapter is an introduction to the use of computers in process control. In a provocative paragraph in their introductory chapter the authors contrast the axiomatic attitude of the mathematician with the pragmatism of the engineer. As encouragement to a more ecumenical spirit and as warning to the engineer to check each stage of his mathematical work against the physical background this is excellent, but if it leads the engineer to undervalue rigour and elegance it may do him a disservice. Without an existence proof one can only be partially assured that the computer is producing meaningful numbers however close to the observations they may be and in that part of the engineer’s task which consists in establishing and articulating mathematical models rigour is of the essence. It is encouraging that there are signs of a revival of the older tradition of natural philosophy, a river whose vitality has not been entirely spent in the delta of modem professionalism; it was a tradition which held the delicate balance between axiom and application. Here then is a thoroughly reliable book, distinguished for its clarity of exposition. Students at the Manchester College of Science and Technology and the University of Loughborough are indeed fortunate to be getting the benefit of the authors’ wide experience and manifest teaching ability. RUTHERFORDAars
D. W. F. HARDIE and J. DAVIDSONPRATT: A History of the Modern British Chemical Industry. Pergamon Press, 1966, 380 pp., 21s. IN CLARIPICAT~ON of the title, it should be said that this history does not confine itself to recent events or the newer technologies, in fact one quarter of the book is devoted to the rise. of the industry in the 19th century. It is a history of the modem chemical industry in the sense that the developments of recent years are fully covered and events up to and includ-
ing 1965 are recorded. It is many years since a history of the British chemical industry appeared and the changes in the interval have been revolutionary. This excellent book should be viewed in the context of its purpose. The Editor’s preface speaks of the need for a brief, semi-popular, up-to-date history as an introduction to a series of monographs to be published by Pergamon Press. These monographs are to be teaching manuals on the Chemical Industry for senior students.
481
Book Reviews Presumably in view of the book’s purpose, the technological aspects predominate, while economic, political, human and market aspects are given a rather peripheral place. The authors’ theme is that process discoveries are the key to the history of the chemical industry. Not all readers will fully accept this, but the theme suits the basically technological purpose of the book. There is an immense backing of factual information presented in a form intelligible to anyone with a modicum of chemical knowledge. In addition to those for whom it is intended, this book will interest anyone who is in, or near to, the chemical industry in that the activities of all the leading Companies are chronicled. The general reader or the historian would be advised to skim through pages thatwill lookto him like a catalogue of technical facts, in search of illuminating passages on matters such as the inlluence of World Wars I and II, the rise, decline and resurgence of the British dyestuffs industry, and the effects of the McKinley tariffs and the Key Industry Duties.
The history of the chemical industry in its earlier years is rich in buccaneering stories of feuds and rivalries, some of which significantly affected the course of events. Unfortunately these matters would be difficult to record in a serious and authoritative account, for obvious reasons. The same thing applies to agreements between Companies. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of agreements existed between British Companies and between British and foreign Companies which undoubtedly had profound effects. These agreements, tacit or explicit, were to keep out of each other’s geographical or product territories. Nowadays such agreements are not respectable and may be illegal, but they certainly contributed much to the prosperity of the chemical industry, and it could be argued that this prosperity was put to good use in research and enterprise.
A. V. LUIKOV: Heat and Mass Transfer in Capillary-Porous
the kinetics of gaseous transfer in the pores. The distinction between macro- and micro-capillaries is clearly shown and the phenomenon of thermal slip is well explained, One misses, however, a discussion of the various theories and models of pore structure. Chapter 6 deals with heat and mass transfer in capillaryporous bodies, including an explanation of such phenomena as filtration transfer. However, there is a considerable gap between the carefully derived mathematical equations and their practical applications based largely on dimensionless correlations. Also, while chemical bonding is briefly mentioned in Chapter 5 it seems to be neglected thereafter. Experimental data are cited almost entirely from Russian sources. Chapter 7 is devoted specifically to heat and mass transfer in the walls of buildings with particular reference to the effect of periodic variations. Calculations are detailed, but there are hardly any experimental results. In Chapter 8 the basic concepts developed earlier are applied to drying and calcining processes. Dimensionaless numbers are used to correlate (mainly Russian) experimental results. Chapter 9 describes some experimental methods of investigation, again using Russian ideas and methods, and Chapter 10 gives a brief outline of some methods of numerical solution. The book as a whole is a very useful source of information on Russian thinking and progress in the field by a distinguished author, and is certainly the first book on this particular subject; unfortunately Western books and journals, even standard works such as K&her and Kr6U and Kneule are neglected. One also misses an author index and an explanatory list of symbols and dimensionless numbers; the subject index is rather brief. The price is high, but this appears to be usual for translations such as the present one.
Bodies. Translated from Russian by P. W. D. Harrison; translation edited by W. M. Pun. Pergamon Press 1966 (original Russian edition published by the Academy of Sciences, B.S.S.R. Minsk, 1961, with recent additions and amendments by the author). xii+523 pp., f6. 10s. A CAPILLARY-POROUS body has a porous structure
with the pores of such a size that liquid movement in them is determined by surface tension rather than by gravity forces. The pores are usually interconnected among themselves. Capillary-porous bodies are, e.g. building materials such as bricks and materials undergoing drying or calcining processes. Professor A. V. Luikov, a distinguished Soviet scientist and engineer, brings to the specific topics dealt with in the book under review, a broad-gauged approach using all the tools of modern thermophysics. The book thus starts with four chapters (190 out of a total of 523 pages) of a general introduction. The first chapter, headed Thermodynamics of the Phenomena of Heat and Mass Transfer, deals mainly with non-equilibrium thermodynamics and its application to heat and mass flow in one-component systems. This approach is extended to binary systems and solutions in Chapter 2. In many cases solution of the equations is cumbersome, but they can lead to dimensionless groups for correlation of and extrapolation from experimental results. Fundamentals of the theory of similarity are therefore discussed in the next chapter. A large number of dimensionless groups named after Russian authors and unfamiliar in the West are used in the book. Chapter 4 deals with heat and mass transfer of a solid body with the surrounding medium under conduction, forced and free convection and radiation conditions. It is in Chapter 5 that capillary-porous bodies are treated for the first time. There is a clear and detailed discussion of the various types of bond between water and solid, of some basic structural properties of capillary-porous bodies and of
T. R. Scorr
F. H. H. VAJ_ENTIN
482
H. H. R~~ENBROCKand C. STOREY: Computational Techniques for Chernlcal Engineers. Pergamon Press, 1966. xv+328 pp., Gl4s.
Printed in Great Britain.
THE RISE of the computer since the second world war has forced on mathematicians a deeper development of numerical analysis and on engineers and others the application of these methods. It has resulted in a spate of textbooks, monographs and handbooks on numerical methods and computational techniques adapted, like Canon Chasuble’s sermon, “to almost any occasion”. The publication of so sound and well-written a book as Rosenbrock and Storey’s is therefore a particularly welcome event, for here is a work informed at every stage by the authors’ practical experience with the use of computers for chemical engineering problems. Apart from passing mention in the introductory chapter there are two chapters devoted to the operation of computers, the second, which is a very clear introduction to the general structure of the digital computer and its programming, and the eleventh which provides similar instruction concerning analogue machines. Between these two chapters a number of topics which can be broadly classified as design or equation solving are treated. Design is introduced in the third chapter by showing how the capacities of the computer can be exploited in the simpler design problems. However since optimization must always be an element of good design work, the fourth chapter immediately introduces the techniques of hill climbing. Some of these are described and a careful comparison made between them by proving them on three test functions; linear and non-linear programming are only mentioned in passing. It is unfortunately inevitable that, with the delays of modern publishing, it iri never possible to describe the very latest results. In their suggestions for further reading and list of references, the authors have done as much as is possible to inform the reader of more recent developments. Hill-climbing methods are applied in the next two chapters to optimization in design and the solution of algebraic equations, a link with the second broad area of concern, that of solving equations.
The solution of partial and simultaneous differential equations is treated in a substantial chapter and the exposition is notable for its clarity and the motivation provided by the examples introduced. The most original chapter in the book is the eighth, on the estimation of parameters in differential equations. The prime importance of such inverse problems needs no emphasizing, but this is the first time I recall its being treated in any textbook. The basic idea is to search for the values of the parameters which give the beat fit of the solution of the equations to the observations in a least squares sense; their treatment of the confidence limits of the estimated parameters is particularly valuable. Returning to the theme of optimization, gradient methods in function space, Pontryagin’s principle and dynamic programming are described in the ninth chapter and the discussion of optimum temperature profiles in the tenth serves to compare these and other methods. The concluding chapter is an introduction to the use of computers in process control. In a provocative paragraph in their introductory chapter the authors contrast the axiomatic attitude of the mathematician with the pragmatism of the engineer. As encouragement to a more ecumenical spirit and as warning to the engineer to check each stage of his mathematical work against the physical background this is excellent, but if it leads the engineer to undervalue rigour and elegance it may do him a disservice. Without an existence proof one can only be partially assured that the computer is producing meaningful numbers however close to the observations they may be and in that part of the engineer’s task which consists in establishing and articulating mathematical models rigour is of the essence. It is encouraging that there are signs of a revival of the older tradition of natural philosophy, a river whose vitality has not been entirely spent in the delta of modem professionalism; it was a tradition which held the delicate balance between axiom and application. Here then is a thoroughly reliable book, distinguished for its clarity of exposition. Students at the Manchester College of Science and Technology and the University of Loughborough are indeed fortunate to be getting the benefit of the authors’ wide experience and manifest teaching ability. RUTHERFORDAars
D. W. F. HARDIE and J. DAVIDSONPRATT: A History of the Modern British Chemical Industry. Pergamon Press, 1966, 380 pp., 21s. IN CLARIPICAT~ON of the title, it should be said that this history does not confine itself to recent events or the newer technologies, in fact one quarter of the book is devoted to the rise. of the industry in the 19th century. It is a history of the modem chemical industry in the sense that the developments of recent years are fully covered and events up to and includ-
ing 1965 are recorded. It is many years since a history of the British chemical industry appeared and the changes in the interval have been revolutionary. This excellent book should be viewed in the context of its purpose. The Editor’s preface speaks of the need for a brief, semi-popular, up-to-date history as an introduction to a series of monographs to be published by Pergamon Press. These monographs are to be teaching manuals on the Chemical Industry for senior students.
481
Book Reviews Presumably in view of the book’s purpose, the technological aspects predominate, while economic, political, human and market aspects are given a rather peripheral place. The authors’ theme is that process discoveries are the key to the history of the chemical industry. Not all readers will fully accept this, but the theme suits the basically technological purpose of the book. There is an immense backing of factual information presented in a form intelligible to anyone with a modicum of chemical knowledge. In addition to those for whom it is intended, this book will interest anyone who is in, or near to, the chemical industry in that the activities of all the leading Companies are chronicled. The general reader or the historian would be advised to skim through pages thatwill lookto him like a catalogue of technical facts, in search of illuminating passages on matters such as the inlluence of World Wars I and II, the rise, decline and resurgence of the British dyestuffs industry, and the effects of the McKinley tariffs and the Key Industry Duties.
The history of the chemical industry in its earlier years is rich in buccaneering stories of feuds and rivalries, some of which significantly affected the course of events. Unfortunately these matters would be difficult to record in a serious and authoritative account, for obvious reasons. The same thing applies to agreements between Companies. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of agreements existed between British Companies and between British and foreign Companies which undoubtedly had profound effects. These agreements, tacit or explicit, were to keep out of each other’s geographical or product territories. Nowadays such agreements are not respectable and may be illegal, but they certainly contributed much to the prosperity of the chemical industry, and it could be argued that this prosperity was put to good use in research and enterprise.
A. V. LUIKOV: Heat and Mass Transfer in Capillary-Porous
the kinetics of gaseous transfer in the pores. The distinction between macro- and micro-capillaries is clearly shown and the phenomenon of thermal slip is well explained, One misses, however, a discussion of the various theories and models of pore structure. Chapter 6 deals with heat and mass transfer in capillaryporous bodies, including an explanation of such phenomena as filtration transfer. However, there is a considerable gap between the carefully derived mathematical equations and their practical applications based largely on dimensionless correlations. Also, while chemical bonding is briefly mentioned in Chapter 5 it seems to be neglected thereafter. Experimental data are cited almost entirely from Russian sources. Chapter 7 is devoted specifically to heat and mass transfer in the walls of buildings with particular reference to the effect of periodic variations. Calculations are detailed, but there are hardly any experimental results. In Chapter 8 the basic concepts developed earlier are applied to drying and calcining processes. Dimensionaless numbers are used to correlate (mainly Russian) experimental results. Chapter 9 describes some experimental methods of investigation, again using Russian ideas and methods, and Chapter 10 gives a brief outline of some methods of numerical solution. The book as a whole is a very useful source of information on Russian thinking and progress in the field by a distinguished author, and is certainly the first book on this particular subject; unfortunately Western books and journals, even standard works such as K&her and Kr6U and Kneule are neglected. One also misses an author index and an explanatory list of symbols and dimensionless numbers; the subject index is rather brief. The price is high, but this appears to be usual for translations such as the present one.
Bodies. Translated from Russian by P. W. D. Harrison; translation edited by W. M. Pun. Pergamon Press 1966 (original Russian edition published by the Academy of Sciences, B.S.S.R. Minsk, 1961, with recent additions and amendments by the author). xii+523 pp., f6. 10s. A CAPILLARY-POROUS body has a porous structure
with the pores of such a size that liquid movement in them is determined by surface tension rather than by gravity forces. The pores are usually interconnected among themselves. Capillary-porous bodies are, e.g. building materials such as bricks and materials undergoing drying or calcining processes. Professor A. V. Luikov, a distinguished Soviet scientist and engineer, brings to the specific topics dealt with in the book under review, a broad-gauged approach using all the tools of modern thermophysics. The book thus starts with four chapters (190 out of a total of 523 pages) of a general introduction. The first chapter, headed Thermodynamics of the Phenomena of Heat and Mass Transfer, deals mainly with non-equilibrium thermodynamics and its application to heat and mass flow in one-component systems. This approach is extended to binary systems and solutions in Chapter 2. In many cases solution of the equations is cumbersome, but they can lead to dimensionless groups for correlation of and extrapolation from experimental results. Fundamentals of the theory of similarity are therefore discussed in the next chapter. A large number of dimensionless groups named after Russian authors and unfamiliar in the West are used in the book. Chapter 4 deals with heat and mass transfer of a solid body with the surrounding medium under conduction, forced and free convection and radiation conditions. It is in Chapter 5 that capillary-porous bodies are treated for the first time. There is a clear and detailed discussion of the various types of bond between water and solid, of some basic structural properties of capillary-porous bodies and of
T. R. Scorr
F. H. H. VAJ_ENTIN
482