Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a range of advanced solution methods for the analysis of single and multiphase thermal systems. Multiphase heat transfer, such as phase change in gas–liquid and liquid–solid flows, arises in many practical applications. A common design issue in heat transfer engineering is finding ways to reduce the heat transfer to a minimum value. The energy balance states that the rate of the increase of energy over time within the control volume equals the net rate of energy inflow plus any internal heat generation. The energy inflow and outflow terms include heat and work flows across the boundary surfaces. The heat generation may be nonzero as a result of processes such as friction between two different phases at the interface or heat transfer due to latent heat evolved at a moving phase interface.