TRANSPORT PHENOMENA

Transport phenomena is the subject that copes with the transport of different physical quantities
in any chemical or mechanical process and describes the basic principles and laws of transport. It
also describes the relations and similarities among different types of transport that may occur in
any system. Transport in a chemical or mechanical process can be classified into three types:
Momentum transport deals with the transport of momentum in fluids and is also known
as fluid dynamics.
Energy transport deals with the transport of different forms of energy in a system and is
also known as heat transfer.
Mass transport deals with the transport of various chemical species themselves.
Three different types of physical quantities are used in transport phenomena: scalar quantities,
vector quantities and second order tensor quantities. Scalars quantities (e.g. temperature, pressure
and concentration) are the quantities that only have a magnitude but no direction, whereas
vectors (e.g. velocity, momentum and force) also have a direction associated with them along
with a magnitude. Extending this definition, we can loosely define a 2nd order tensor (e.g. stress
or momentum flux and velocity gradient) as a physical quantity which has a magnitude and two
different directions associated with it.
Momentum transport describes the science of fluid flow also called fluid dynamics. Fluid can be
either Newtonian or non-Newtonian. Newtonian fluids are the fluids that obey the Newtons law
of viscosity. According to the Newtons law of viscosity, shear stress acting on the fluid element
is directly proportional to the rate of shear strain. Non-Newtonian fluids are the fluids that do not
obey the Newtons law of viscosity, which means that shear rate does not form a linear relation
with shear strain. Newtons law of viscosity can be expressed mathematically as,
dv
=
dy

Where is viscosity and can be defined as the force needed to overcome the internal
resistance to flow. There are two types of viscosities, kinematic viscosity and dynamic viscosity.
Dynamic viscosity, as described above, is the internal resistance to flow whereas kinematic
viscosity is the ratio of dynamic viscosity to density.
Fluids viscosity has great dependence on temperature and pressure. For liquids, viscosity
decreases with increase in temperature and increase with increases in Pressure. Whereas for
gasses, viscosity increases with increase in both temperature and pressure.
Velocity profiles for different systems can be obtained by applying shell momentum balance.
This is done using the following steps:
Selecting a shell, having same geometry as that of the system, of finite length and
thickness.
Momentum balance equation is written over it which is as follows,

Rate of - Rate of + Sum of all the forces = 0

 momentum in momentum out acting on the system
The differential equation for momentum flux distribution is obtained by letting the shell
thickness approach zero and then using the definition of first order differential equation.
Integrating the obtained equation.
Constant of integration is evaluated using boundary conditions, and the equation for
momentum flux distribution is obtained.
Newtons law of viscosity is inserted to obtain differential equation for velocity
distribution.
Equation is then integrated.
Boundary conditions are applied to obtain the equation for velocity distribution.
Using these equations average velocity, maximum velocity, volumetric flow rate, pressure
drop, & forces on boundary can be obtained and evaluated.

Transport phenomena has wide range of applications in both chemical engineering and our daily
life. Transport phenomena can be seen everywhere e.g. To and fro transfer of heat from our body,
the rotation of earth (momentum transport) around the sun, mass transfer in reactor due to
concentration difference, simultaneous heat and mass transfer in distillation column, and etc.