Description

The behavior of a chemical system is affected by many physicochemical parameters. The sensitivity of the system's behavior to changes in parameters is known as parametric sensitivity. When a system operates in a parametrically sensitive region, its performance becomes unreliable and changes sharply with small variations in parameters. Thus, it is of great value to those who design and operate chemical systems to be able to analyze and predict their sensitivity behavior. This book is the first to provide a thorough treatment of the concept of parametric sensitivity and the mathematical tool it generated, sensitivity analysis. The emphasis is on applications to real situations. The book begins with definitions of various sensitivity indices and describes the numerical techniques most commonly used for their evaluation. Extensively illustrated chapters discuss sensitivity analysis in a variety of chemical reactors--batch, tubular, continuous-flow, fixed-bed--and in combustion systems, mechanistic studies, air pollution, and metabolic processes. Seniors and graduate students in various fields of science and engineering, researchers, and practicing engineers will welcome this valuable resource.