Chebyshev orthogonal collocation technique to solve transport phenomena problems with Matlab® and Mathematica

We present in this pedagogical paper an alternative numerical method for the resolution of transport phenomena problems encountered in the teaching of the required course on transport phenomena in the graduate chemical engineering curricula. Based on the Chebyshev orthogonal collocation technique implemented in Matlab® and Mathematica^©, we show how different rather complicated transport phenomena problems involving partial differential equations and split boundary value problems can now readily be mastered. A description of several sample problems and the resolution methodology is discussed in this paper. The objective of the incorporation of this approach is to develop the numerical skills of the graduate students at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) and to broaden the extent of transport-phenomena problems that can be addressed in the course. We noted with satisfaction that the students successfully adopted this numerical technique for the resolution of problems assigned as term projects.