ABSTRACT
Physics-based models for phenomena such as fluid flow, heat transfer and mass transfer are the workhorse of models used in many process-engineering applications. By applying the law of conservation of energy and the Fourier’s law of heat conduction on a differential volume and taking the limiting case of this as volume goes to zero, one arrives at the general equation for thermal energy transport. In many situations, heat transfer is coupled with other physics. For example, in frying, heat transfer is strongly coupled with moisture transport. In microwave heating, heat transfer is coupled with electromagnetics. In processes such as drying or bread baking, where dimensional changes are involved, heat transfer is coupled with solid mechanics. The effect of microwave heating is typically formulated as a heat source term in the heat equation. The chapter provides a summary of the heat source term formulations for microwave heating.
