Computational Mechanics

Heat transfer in food processing; recent developments and applications.

Yanniotis (Agricultural University of Athens, Greece) and Sundén (Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden) present current work in the field. Chapters deal mainly with heat transfer applications, methods that have considerable physical property variations with temperature, methods not yet widely used in the food industry, and methods that are less developed in the food engineering literature. The application of numerical methods receives special attention, with a separate chapter as well as information on numerical methods integrated throughout other chapters. A chapter on artificial neural networks, a promising alternative to conventional modeling methods, is also included. Other subjects covered are computation methods and thermal properties correlation in freezing and thawing of foods, microwave and radio frequency in sterilization and pasteurization, ohmic heating models and measurements, deep-fat frying, and heat and mass transfer during baking. A few b&w photos of cupcake disasters are included. The US office of WIT Press is Computational Mechanics. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Plate heat exchangers; design, applications and performance.

Citing a lack of comprehensive and in-depth textbooks on specific heat exchangers, Wang (Siemens Industrial Turbines, Sweden), Sundén (Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden) and Manglik (U. of Cincinnati) present a text focusing on plate heat exchangers (PHEs), suitable for graduate and PhD students, and as a reference source book for professionals. Coverage includes a general introduction and historical background to PHEs; construction and operation, including PHE types and plate pattern; material issues and manufacturing methods; basic design methods for both single-phase and two-phase flow cases, various flow arrangements, thermal-hydraulic performance in single-phase flow and for PHEs operating as condensers and evaporators; fouling problems; extended design and operation issues, including computational fluid dynamics methods; and unique features of PHEs. Illustrated throughout with b&w photographs, diagrams, tables, and charts. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)