Simultaneous Linear and Nonlinear Approach to Solving Complex Mathematical Models In Chemical Engineering

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Exhibit Hall B (Minneapolis Convention Center)
Sreenivas Vemulapalli, Cell for Industrial Safety and Risk Analysis, Chemical Engineering Department, Chennai, India

Solving complex mathematical models and optimization functions during design, modeling and simulation of chemical engineering problems routinely involves finding solutions to nonlinear equations and adopting linear programming techniques. Nonlinear algebaric equation solvers attempt to find solutions to sets of nonlinear equations by linearizing the function using gradient functions and making some simplifying assumptions. This approach often results in compromising on the robustness or efficiency of the algorithm and other computational problems. Therefore, an alternative approach is being proposed which transforms the original mathematical functions into its logarthmic linear (log-linear) representation. This technique can be applied while trying to solve both linear as well as nonlinear equations that are encountered in chemical engineering mathematics.

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