Rules of Thumb in Engineering Practice

Skilled operation, maintenance and troubleshooting are absolutely vital to the profitable operation of any chemical and other production plants. Engineers are therefore faced with the daunting task of keeping maintenance and trouble-shooting downtime to an absolute minimum in order to ensure continued profitability. Apart from the necessary engineering and trouble-shooting skills, they also need a handy, concise reference, allowing them to swiftly diagnose any given process.This immense treasure trove contains hundreds of equipment symptoms, arranged so as to allow rapid identification and elimination of the causes. These rules of thumb result from the immense knowledge of experienced engineers collected and compiled by the author -- an engineer himself. Unrivalled in its depth and breadth of coverage, for each piece of equipment this sourcebook lists five important aspects:* area of application* sizing guidelines* capital cost including difficult-to-find installation factors* principles of good practice, and * good approaches to troubleshooting.Extensive cross-referencing takes into account that some items of equipment are used for many different purposes, and covers not only the most familiar types, but special care has also been taken to include less common ones.Consistent terminology and SI units are used throughout the book, while a detailed index quickly and reliably directs engineers in their everyday work at chemical plants: from keywords to solutions in a matter of minutes.[bio]Donald R. Woods is Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University. He received his BSc from Queen's University, his MS and PhD from the University of Wisconsin and worked for a wide variety of industries before joining McMaster University in 1964.His research interests are in process design, cost estimation, surface phenomena, problem-based learning, assessment, improving student learning and developing skill in problem solving, group and team work, self assessment, change management and lifetime learning.He has won numerous awards for leadership and teaching including the Canadian 3M Fellow, honorary Doctor of Science degrees (Queen's University, University of Guelph), the President's Award for Educational Leadership, co-winner of the President's Award for Course Development, Lifetime Achievement Award from Chemical Engineering Education and Wickenden Award from ASEE (twice).He has over 400 publications including the books Financial Decision making in the Process Industry, Process Design and Engineering Practice, and Problem-based Learning - How to Gain the Most from PBL.The latter has been translated into Japanese, Korean and Spanish.He is one of 20 Chemical Engineers from industry, government and universities to receive the Century of Achievement Award from the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering for distinguished contributions to Chemical Engineering.