Sarawak Campus

Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science

Higher Education Division

Project
HEC3612
Chemical Engineering Computations
(Semester 02, 2016)

HEC3612
Chemical Engineering Computations
Semester 2, 2016

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HEC3612 Chemical Engineering Computations

Assessment Title: HEC3612 Project
Due Date: Friday 16th December 2016 by 5.30 p.m. (Hard copy and
MATLAB M-files)
Assessment Weighting: 35%
Assessment: Group
Introduction
The Unit Learning Outcomes that this assessment relates to are:

Learning Outcome 1: Identify the key principles of numerical simulation of transfer

processes.
Learning Outcome 3: Use fundamental material, momentum, and energy balances.
Learning Outcome 4: Formulate a mathematical model of steady-state/transient
processes in terms of algebraic or differential equations.
Learning Outcome 5: Identify appropriate numerical methods and their suitability for
various initial and boundary conditions.
Learning Outcome 6: Use computational tools relevant to the developed model.
Learning Outcome 7: Obtain numerical solution of steady-state and unsteady-state
problems related to transfer process.
Learning Outcome 9: Validate results of numerical solution.

Some important notes about this assessment:

1. The project must be performed by a group of two / three students.
2. There is no individualization of the mark so every member of the group gets the same
mark.
3. Use a word processor (Times New Roman, 12 pt. font) to type the report.
4. A single .zip file containing all MATLAB functions and scripts as separate .m files
must be emailed to shashim@swinburne.edu.my by Friday 16th December 2016, 5.30
p.m. An email received after 5.30 p.m. will result in a deduction of 50% of the total
mark achieved.

HEC3612
Chemical Engineering Computations
Semester 2, 2016

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PROJECT OVERVIEW
The project should involve computation and numerical analysis of any Chemical Engineering
topic such as Heat and Mass Transfer, Transport Phenomena, Reaction Engineering, etc. It
should be interesting to you and fun to investigate. If you are unsure about your project
topic, you can find ideas in various resources:
Any reference books such as:
o Chapra SC. Applied Numerical Methods with MATLAB for Engineers and
Scientists: McGraw-Hill Higher Education; 2008.
o Beers KJ. Numerical Methods for Chemical Engineering Application in
MATLAB: Cambridge University Press; 2007.
o Cutlip MB and Shacham M. Problem Solving in Chemical and Biochemical
Engineering with POLYMATH, Excel, and MATLAB: Prentice Hall; 2008.
o Constantinides A and Mostoufi N. Numerical Methods with MATLAB
Applications: Prentice Hall; 1999.
o Al-Malah KIM. MATLAB Numerical Methods with Chemical Engineering
Applications: McGraw-Hill Education; 2013.
Or browse the internet for numerical analysis that you might find interesting.
The lengths of project reports may vary, but a substantial project will probably require about
810 pages of text, along with supporting figures, data, and MATLAB programming. Your
report should contain the following components:
Abstract: Short overview of the report, a miniature version of 100 words or so. The
abstract should give a good idea of what problem was tackled, what types of techniques
were used to solve it, and what results were obtained.
Problem Statement: Present the problem that you are attempting to solve or the
algorithm that you are studying. Give some background for it, why it is important, etc.
Explain what the questions are that you would like to be able to answer.
Numerical Methods: Explain what computational or numerical methods you use to
solve the problem or to study the algorithm.
Results and Discussion: Present the results of your computations or analysis. Interpret
the results. Do they look reasonable? Have you checked the accuracy in some way? If
so, explain how. MATLAB codes must be put at the end of the report as an
appendix.
Conclusions: Summarize what you have done and what you have learned from it. Are
there improvements that could be made in some future work?
References: Please include a bibliography if you have used any references, e.g., books,
journal articles, webpages. Put a citation in the report if you refer to a reference.
Remember to cite any references you used to learn about problems or that were used to
provide data. If you take a description directly from another source it should be in
quotes and properly acknowledged. If you paraphrase it, you should still cite the
references.
HEC3612
Chemical Engineering Computations
Semester 2, 2016

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Your report must be an effective means of communicating your project:

Language should be clear and correct.
Presentation (clear fonts, diagrams, spacing, etc.) should aid in comprehension of the
material.
The information should be structured to sensibly progress from requirements to
conclusions in clear sections.
MATLAB programming and computational results
If you have a MATLAB program that generates a lot of output, explain any output. Be very
selective in what you present. It is much more effective to have one or two pages of sample
output which is selected to illustrate some key features that are described and explained than to
have 20 pages of undigested numbers. Graphs or other visual presentations are often much
better than lists of numbers.

NB: This project overview is adapted and modified from a resource developed for the
University of Washington, Math 466: Numerical Analysis III.
HEC3612
Chemical Engineering Computations
Semester 2, 2016

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REPORT MARKING SCHEME

Basic mark
Markable element of the report
Abstract
Problem Statement
Numerical Methods
Results and Discussion
Conclusions
MATLAB Programming
Language, Presentation, and Structure
Creativity and Effort
Basic mark total (A)

Possible mark
10
10
10
40
10
10
5
5
100

Actual mark

Possible
penalty
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
025
100

Actual
penalty

Deducting penalties
Penalty items
Title not on front page
Pages not numbered
Report not dated
Sections not given sensible numbers
Figures / Tables without captions
Figures / Tables without numbers
Figures / Tables not referenced in text
Figures / Tables not neat
Equations without numbers or references
No reference list
References not complete
References not referenced in text
No appendices
Appendices not referenced in text
Penalties total (B)
FINAL REPORT MARK (A minus B)

NB: This marking scheme is adapted and modified from the Report Marking Scheme
developed by the University of New South Wales: https://teaching.unsw.edu.au/reportmarking-scheme.
HEC3612
Chemical Engineering Computations
Semester 2, 2016

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