Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Sherwood number (Sh) (also called the mass transfer Nusselt number) is a dimensionless number used in mass-transfer operation. It represents the ratio of the total mass transfer rate (convection + diffusion) to the rate of diffusive mass transport, [1] and is named in honor of Thomas Kilgore Sherwood. It is defined as follows
This rate can be quantified through the calculation and application of mass transfer coefficients for an overall process. These mass transfer coefficients are typically published in terms of dimensionless numbers, often including Péclet numbers, Reynolds numbers, Sherwood numbers, and Schmidt numbers, among others. [2] [3] [4]
chemistry (mass of one atom divided by the atomic mass constant, 1 Da) Bodenstein number: Bo or Bd = / = chemistry (residence-time distribution; similar to the axial mass transfer Peclet number) [2] Damkohler number: Da =
Sherwood number – (also called the mass transfer Nusselt number) is a dimensionless number used in mass-transfer operation. It represents the ratio of the convective mass transfer to the rate of diffusive mass transport.
The same restrictions described in the heat transfer definition are applied to the mass transfer definition. The Sherwood number can be used to find an overall mass transfer coefficient and applied to Fick's law of diffusion to find concentration profiles and mass transfer fluxes.
Some of the most common examples of transport analysis in engineering are seen in the fields of process, chemical, biological, [1] and mechanical engineering, but the subject is a fundamental component of the curriculum in all disciplines involved in any way with fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and mass transfer.
Mass transfer coefficients can be estimated from many different theoretical equations, correlations, and analogies that are functions of material properties, intensive properties and flow regime (laminar or turbulent flow). Selection of the most applicable model is dependent on the materials and the system, or environment, being studied.
A larger Nusselt number corresponds to more active convection, with turbulent flow typically in the 100–1000 range. [2] A similar non-dimensional property is the Biot number, which concerns thermal conductivity for a solid body rather than a fluid. The mass transfer analogue of the Nusselt number is the Sherwood number.