A Critical Perspective of Entropy Generation Minimization in Thermal Analyses and Optimizations

Product Description

Thermal analyses and optimizations are very ubiquitous and important in academic research and engineering applications. In this field, the entropy generation minimization has been widely used and found to be effective in many cases. Sometimes, it was even used without checking the applicability, and seemed to be a unified theory that could solve all thermal problems. Is this really the case? This book answers this question through detailed theoretical derivations and different numerical examples in heat transfer and heat-work conversion. It shows clearly that the theory has limitations and a definite application scope, beyond which it may provide unreasonable or incorrect results. Therefore, the entropy generation minimization is far from perfect. This book will be of interest to students, researchers and engineers in thermal science and engineering, as it will help the reader to apply the entropy generation minimization correctly.

About the Author

Dr XueTao Cheng works at the Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of the Ministry of Education in the Department of Engineering Mechanics of Tsinghua University, China. He received his BE and PhD degrees from the same institution in 2006 and 2011, respectively. His area of interest is power engineering and engineering thermophysics, and he is currently working on thermal analyses and optimizations. His publications include over 60 peer-reviewed papers in different international academic journals, such as International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, Energy, Energy Conversion and Management and Applied Thermal Engineering, among others.