Combustion Theory PDF

Preface to the Second Edition

Truly remarkable progress has been achieved in combustion theory during the 20 years since the completion of the first edition of this book. Because of this progress, when the first edition went out of print about 5 years ago, it was clear that a reprinting could no longer serve to bring readers to the frontiers of the subject. Revision of the entire text was needed, and I undertook the revision without realizing that it would require as much time as writing the first edition. Although it is regrettable that the book has been unavailable during the preparation of the second edition, it seemed best to try to complete as good a revision as possible instead of rushing into print. Thus consideration- has been given to changes throughout; none of the chapters survived without modification, and outdated chapters have disappeared entirely and have been replaced by chapters devoted to new material of importance in the subject.

Nevertheless, the general format of the book and the philosophy of the presentation remain the same. The necessary background material still appears in the same five appendixes. These appendixes needed less revision than the rest of the volume; a few of the sections survived intact. Among the specific changes in the appendixes are updating of the discussion of thermochemical equilibrium calculations to take account of the revolutionary advances in computational power of electronic computers, presentation of clarifications that have been achieved in the concepts of steady-state and partial-equilibrium approximations in chemical kinetics, amplification of the discussions of branched-chain and thermal explosions on the basis of insights developed from ideas of asymptotic methods, presentation of newly available information on the chemical kinetics of hydrocarbon oxidation and of the production of oxides of nitrogen in flames, and augmentation of the treatment of transport processes to include additional aspects of radiant energy transfer. The first chapter, in which the basic mathematical formulations are presented, remains just as formidable to the faint-hearted as it was in the first edition. There are still 12 chapters, but the later ones, especially, exhibit modifications in coverage as a consequence of the progress made in the field.

Author: Forman A. Williams