6 replies to this topic

[Art Montemayor]

Universal:

My first and foremost comment to you is that, as a 4^th year chemical engineering student, you are starting in on Excel far too late. In my opinion, you should have started to use Excel for all your problem solving in school assignments during your first year of University and should have started in on Visual Basic programming (as it applies to Excel) during your second year. But, what is done is done and we can't turn the clock back. Just be reminded that you are starting very late and should accelerate your Excel learning and practice.

The Excel functions you should know and MASTER are all in the Excel program. As a 4^th year student, you should know perfectly well what functions are the most important and for what reason. All you have to do is dig in and start using Excel in your problem solving. Basic stuff such as the Trig functions and the Boolean algebra are self-explanatory. So are the Horizontal and Vertical Lookup functions. This material is "self-evident" to anyone who has done his/her share of Chemical Engineering problem solving in such classes as Material Balances, Unit Operations, Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics, and Thermodynamics. For examples on how professional Chemical Engineers use Excel spreadsheets in their everyday problem solving, all you have to do is read our responses in these Forums and download all of the Excel Workbooks we have uploaded for your education and enjoyment. Let your fingers do the walking through the SEARCH feature and you will find enough Excel material to keep you busy for years. Start by studying how I solve the Crane Tech Paper #410 Example Fluid Flow problems. You can download this workbook right now from the #1 thread in this Student Forum.

I hope you are serious and strive to catch up with your competitive student companions in Chemical Engineering.

Good Luck.

[djack77494]

UE,
I daresay that Excel and other spreadsheets are the Number 1 tool for all engineers, exceeding even the utility of specialized software such as simulators. Given a choice, I'd quickly give up my simulators to keep Excel, and I think most other engineers would do the same. If you remain technical, you'll be constantly using Excel (or its competitors).

[Profe]

Hi Universal Engineer
About the Excel to solve Chemical Engineering problems, try the next link: http://azkef.org/ChE...XCEL basics.pdf

I think that will be useful to start.

Good luck.

[katmar]

Two features which I have found useful are multi-variable linear regression and goal seek. Goal seek is very useful in situations where you have some very involved correlation that predicts something like a heat transfer coefficient and one of the variables is the baffle spacing. You can use goal seek to find the the baffle spacing that gives you the required HTC - its much easier than having to rework the correlation into the alternate form.

But to really get the most out of Excel you will have to master macros and a bit of Visual Basic for Applications (as I think Art already suggested?).

Good luck.