Emission of pollutants and their accumulation due to poor ventilation and air exchange are serious problems currently under investigation by many researchers. Of particular concern are issues involving air quality within buildings. Toxic fumes and airborne diseases are known to produce undesirable odors, eye and nose irritations, sickness, and occasionally death. Other products such as tobacco smoke and carbon monoxide can also have serious health effects on people exposed to a poorly ventilated environment; studies indicate that indirect or passive smoking can also lead to lung cancer.Design for prevention or remediation of indoor air pollution requires expertise in optimizing geometrical configurations; knowledge of HVAC systems, perceived or expected contaminants and source locations; and economics. Much of the design concept involves ways in which to optimize the benefits or balance the advantages and disadvantages of various configurations and equipment. The fact that a room or building will conceivably become contaminated is generally an accepted fact - to what extent indoor air pollution will become critical is not really known until it happens.A series of numerical models that run in MATLAB are described in the text and placed on the Web. These models include the finite difference method, finite volume method, finite element method, the boundary element method, particle-in-cell, meshless methods, and lagrangian particle transport. In addition, all example problems can be run using COMSOL, a commercial finite-element-based computer code with a great deal of flexibility and application. By accessing AutoCad ICES or DWG file structures, COMSOL permits a building floor plan to be captured and the interior walls discretized into elements.

This book is a follow-up to the introductory text written by the same authors. The primary emphasis on this book is linear and nonlinear partial differential equations with particular concentration on the equations of viscous fluid motion. Each chapter describes a particular application of the finite element method and illustrates the concepts through example problems. A comprehensive appendix lists computer codes for 2-D fluid flow and two 3-D transient codes.

This self-explanatory guide introduces the basic fundamentals of the Finite Element Method in a clear manner using comprehensive examples. Beginning with the concept of one-dimensional heat transfer, the first chapters include one-dimensional problems that can be solved by inspection. The book progresses through more detailed two-dimensional elements to three-dimensional elements, including discussions on various applications, and ending with introductory chapters on the boundary element and meshless methods, where more input data must be provided to solve problems. Emphasis is placed on the development of the discrete set of algebraic equations. The example problems and exercises in each chapter explain the procedure for defining and organizing the required initial and boundary condition data for a specific problem, and computer code listings in MATLAB and MAPLE are included for setting up the examples within the text, including COMSOL files. Widely used as an introductory Finite Element Method text since 1992 and used in past ASME short courses and AIAA home study courses, this text is intended for undergraduate and graduate students taking Finite Element Methodology courses, engineers working in the industry that need to become familiar with the FEM, and engineers working in the field of heat transfer. It can also be used for distance education courses that can be conducted on the web. Highlights of the new edition include: - Inclusion of MATLAB, MAPLE code listings, along with several COMSOL files, for the example problems within the text. Power point presentations per chapter and a solution manual are also available from the web. - Additional introductory chapters on the boundary element method and the meshless method. - Revised and updated content. -Simple and easy to follow guidelines for understanding and applying the Finite Element Method.

When students once master the concepts of the finite element method (and meshing), it’s not long before they begin to look at other numerical techniques and applications, especially the boundary element and meshless methods (since a mesh is not required). The expert authors of this book provide a simple explanation of these three powerful numerical schemes and show how they all fall under the umbrella of the more universal method of weighted residuals. The book is structured in four sections. The first introductory section provides the method of weighted residuals development of finite differences, finite volume, finite element, boundary element, and meshless methods along with 1D examples of each method. The following three sections of the book present a more detailed development of the finite element method, then progress through the boundary element method, and end with meshless methods. Each section serves as a stand-alone description, but it is apparent how each conveniently leads to the other techniques. It is recommended that the reader begin with the finite element method, as this serves as the primary basis for defining the method of weighted residuals.