Computer Applications for Engineers using Excel

Abstract

Engineering students usually take at an early stage of their study a preliminary course on computer applications that introduces them to the world of computers and equips them with the basic skills needed for word-processing and data analyses and presentation. After studying the basic engineering subjects, they take an intermediate-level course on computer applications the aim of which is to train the students on the essential computational methods needed for engineering design analyses. Although the various engineering specialisations involve different types of design analyses, there are commonly-shared methods such as those for the solution of linear systems of equations, solution of non-linear equations, solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, and the methods for iterative solutions and optimisation analyses. All these types of computer-oriented methods are frequently encountered in the three thermofluid subjects, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat-transfer, which are also fundamental subjects for most engineering specialisations including civil, chemical, and mechanical engineering. Therefore, this book illustrates the use of computational methods for engineering design analyses by focussing on thermofluid analyses. This approach also enables the various examples given in the book to be related to practical engineering analyses rather than purely mathematical ones.

Various computational modelling platforms have been used for the intended purpose of this book that include computer-programming languages, such as C++ and Python, and specialised computer applications such as MATLAB and EES. This uses a generalpurpose spreadsheet application, which is Microsoft Excel, as the base for its modeling platform. Besides being widely available and easy to learn, Excel is one of the mostly used software by practicing engineers. The Excel-based modelling platform used in the book has four elements; (i) Excel with its user-interface and built-in functions, (ii) the Solver add-in that comes with Excel, (iii), the integrated programming language Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and (iv) an Excel add-in for fluid properties called Thermax. While the main two components of the platform, Excel and Solver, are adequate for most fluid mechanics and heat-transfer analyses, Thermax and VBA are needed for thermodynamic analyses and for the development of custom functions when the analytical model cannot be applied by only using Excel’s built-in functions and Thermax functions. Appropriately used, this Excel-based modelling platform minimizes the effort of developing the analytical models so that more attention can be paid to the application of the relevant engineering principles without using black-box models.