In the past most instructional-software packages for heat & mass transfer were based on the “computerization” of existing analytical solutions and experimental correlations. Often the result was a facility for doing more conventional calculations, only faster; and usually the computed result was just a single “answer” — such as an overall convective heat-transfer coefficient or fin efficiency.
By contrast, our software uses modern numerical algorithms to solve the fundamental governing ordinary or partial-differential equations in real time. By combining this more fundamental approach with enhanced color-visualization techniques, our new software modules allow a student to “see” — and thus perhaps to understand — the physics underlying a particular process.
To date, we have developed software modules covering ten (10) fundamental topics in heat transfer. About thirty (30) “mini-modules,” which use a combination of an Excel Spreadsheet for input and graphical display of output and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros for the serious calculations, have also been developed and may be downloaded here. NOTE: The user MUST enable the macros when opening these spreadsheets; otherwise they will not do anything.