4 Challenges and Opportunities in Fluid Mechanics and Transport Phenomena

Abstract

This chapter discusses the current and future state of teaching and research in fluid mechanics and transport phenomena in chemical engineering. The most important element is that fluid mechanics in chemical engineering applications is almost always coupled with heat or mass transfer processes, which are the primary focus of interest. Three distinct motivations can be cited to support the prognostication of a more intensive push toward the study of fluid dynamics and transport phenomena at the microscale. First is the growing interest and critical national need for the development of novel materials; second is the increasing emphasis on new technologies which require materials to be processed and transport processes to be controlled with increasing precision; and the third is the a growing realization that local flow structures are critically important in determining the global behavior of a flow or transport system. The chapter identifies the important and exciting problems remaining to be solved, especially from the standpoint of a chemical engineer.