Dr. Harlan H. Bengtson, PE

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Presents a SunCam continuing education series on the topic of:

Excel^® Solutions to Engineering Problems

Contact author at:
hnkbengtson@yahoo.com
Albuquerque, NM

Dr. Bengtson is a graduate of Iowa State University with B.S. and M.S. degrees and of the University of Colorado with a PhD. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Missouri. He has spent 30 years in engineering education in teaching and administrative positions, including six years as Dean of Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. His areas of expertise are environmental engineering, hydrology and hydraulics, engineering science (fluid mechanics/heat transfer/thermodynamics) and renewable energy systems. He has done regular consulting work while holding the academic positions. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Bengtson worked for Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing as a Product Development Engineer and for E. I. duPont deNemours as a Process Development Engineer. Dr. Bengtson has authored numerous publications, presentations and technical reports. He is currently active as a free lance technical writer and is the founder of www.engineeringexceltemplates.com, a site with the objective of providing inexpensive, easy to use Excel spreadsheets for a variety of engineering calculations.

Course Title Rating Hours Price

119-Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient Estimation

(4.6) 31 Reviews

4 $90.00

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Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.

Course Description:

Convection heat transfer takes place whenever a fluid is in contact with a solid surface that is at a different temperature than the fluid. This course gives background on Newton's law of cooling, a brief description of the difference between natural convection and forced convection, a discussion of the dimensionless numbers used in convection heat transfer correlations, and an introduction to some of the typical configurations of interest for convection heat transfer. Then the rest of the course is devoted to presentation of correlations and example calculations for estimating natural convection and forced convection heat transfer coefficients. A spreadsheet that will assist in making these calculations for either turbulent or laminar pipe flow is included with the course.

The overall objective of this course is to prepare those completing the course to calculate heat transfer coefficients for a variety of physical configurations of forced convection and natural convection. A more detailed list of learning objectives is included in the course document.

122-Solar Basics - Radiation Data Online

(4.5) 59 Reviews

4 $90.00

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Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.

Course Description:

Whether you are planning/designing a photovoltaic solar power system, a passive solar heating system or solar collectors for a solar thermal system to provide space heat or hot water, you could use data on the average rate of solar radiation to be expected at your project location each month. In fact, such information is readily available from online sources for locations in the United States and around the world. This course will provide information about three sources of such data. Two of the sources are from the Renewable Resource Data Center (RREDC), which is a unit of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The other source is a NASA Langley Distributed Active Archive (DAAC) Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy Data Set. Discussion of each of these sources will include how to access them, what type of data is available at each, and how to interpret that data.

This course is intended for mechanical, electrical, chemical and energy engineers, and architects. It will also be of interest to any engineers wanting to learn more about the renewable energy field and to professional surveyors who are responsible for the accurate orientation and layout of solar collection devices.

The overall objective of this course is to prepare those completing the course to access the three online sources of solar radiation data that are presented and discussed in the course. A more detailed list of learning objectives is included in the course document.

126-Open Channel Flow Measurement - Weirs and Flumes

(4.7) 39 Reviews

4 $90.00

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Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.

Course Description:

Measuring the flow rate of water in an open channel typically involves some type of obstruction in the path of flow. The two major categories of open channel flow measurement devices in this course are the weir and the flume. A weir is a vertical obstruction that the water must flow over. The measured height of water above the top of the weir (the weir crest) can be used to calculate the flow rate. A flume consists of a constriction in the cross-sectional area of flow. The measured height of water passing through the constricted area (the throat of the flume) can be used to calculate the water flow rate. This course included descriptions, equations and example calculations for sharp crested (V-notch and rectangular weirs), broad crested weirs, and Parshall flumes. A spreadsheet to assist with rectangular weir calculations is included with the course.

This course is intended for hydrologists, civil engineers, hydraulic engineers, highway engineers and environmental engineers. Professional surveyors who are engaged in the layout/verification of weir and flume construction and in the collection of data for use in flow calculations will also benefit from this course.

The overall objective of this course is to provide the attendees with knowledge about calculations and installation and measurement guidelines for sharp crested weirs, broad crested weirs, and Parshall flumes, and to prepare those completing the course to make flow rate calculations for these types of open channel flow meters. A more detailed list of learning objectives is given below.

222-Lime Soda Water Softening Calculations

(4.4) 7 Reviews

3 $67.50

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Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.

Course Description:

This course is intended for civil engineers, chemical engineers and environmental engineers. Topics included are calculation of the different types of hardness in a water sample from lab analysis results; conversion among different units for hardness and chemical concentration; information about three lime soda water softening processes (two-stage excess lime softening, split treatment, and selective calcium removal); calculation of the dosages needed for lime, soda ash and carbon dioxide; calculation of daily chemical requirements; and calculation of solids production rates. A sample spreadsheet is included that illustrates the use of a spreadsheet to make some of the calculations discussed in the course.

The overall objective of this course is to provide the attendees with knowledge about hardness in water and the lime soda water softening process for softening water. A more detailed list of learning objectives is included in the course document.

247-Orifice and Venturi Pipe Flow Meters - For Liquid and Gas Flow

(4.8) 43 Reviews

4 $90.00

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Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.

Course Description:

The flow rate of a fluid flowing in a pipe under pressure is measured for a variety of applications, such as monitoring of pipe flow rate and control of industrial processes. Differential pressure flow meters, consisting of orifice, flow nozzle, and venturi meters, are widely used for pipe flow measurement and are the topic of this course. All three of these meters use a constriction in the path of the pipe flow and measure the difference in pressure between the undisturbed flow and the flow through the constriction. That pressure difference can then be used to calculate the flow rate. This course will provide general background information about differential pressure flow meters and the format of the equation used for calculating liquid flow rate through any of them. There will also be presentation and discussion of equations used for gas flow through a differential pressure flow meter and the parameters in those equations. There will be descriptions of each of these meters and their particular equations, along with example calculations. Use of the ideal gas law to calculate the density of a gas at known temperature and pressure and use of an ISO 5167 equation to calculate the value of an orifice coefficient are additional topics related to orifice and venturi meter calculations that are included in this course. A spreadsheet to assist with orifice/venturi/flow nozzle meter calculations and ISO calculation of an orifice coefficient is also provided. This spreadsheet allows for user selection of either U.S. units or S.I. units for the calculations.

The overall objective of this course is to prepare those completing the course to use orifice, venturi and flow nozzle meters and to make calculations associated with their use. A more detailed list of learning objectives is included in the course document.

273-MBBR Wastewater Treatment Processes

(4.5) 22 Reviews

4 $90.00

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Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.

Course Description:

This course is intended for civil engineers, chemical engineers and environmental engineers. Topics included are general information about the MBBR wastewater treatment process; MBBR process design calculations for BOD removal and nitrification, including single stage BOD removal, single stage nitrification, two stage BOD removal and two stage BOD removal and nitrification processes; background information about MBBR denitrification processes; post-anoxic denitrification process design calculations; and pre-anoxic denitrification process design calculations. A sample spreadsheet is included that illustrates the use of a spreadsheet to make some of the calculations discussed in the course.

The overall objective of this course is to provide the attendees with knowledge about the moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process for wastewater treatment and process design calculations for MBBR wastewater treatment. A more detailed list of learning objectives is included in the course document.

At the conclusion of this course, the student will

Know the differences between attached growth and suspended growth biological wastewater treatment processes.
Be familiar with the general configuration and components of an MBBR wastewater treatment process.
Be able to name the six MBBR process configurations discussed in this course.
Be able to calculate the loading rate of a wastewater constituent to an MBBR process (in lb/day and g/day) for specified wastewater flow rate and constituent concentration.
Be able to calculate the required carrier surface area for an MBBR wastewater treatment process for specified SALR and loading rate.
Be able to calculate the required MBBR tank volume for specified carrier surface area, carrier specific surface area, and the carrier fill %.
Be able to calculate the liquid volume in an MBBR tank for known tank volume, carrier volume and carrier % void space.
Be able to calculate the BOD, NH3-N, or NO3-N removal rate for known values of the surface area removal rate (SARR) and design carrier surface area.
Be able to calculate an estimated effluent BOD, NH3-N, or NO3-N concentration based on known values of the appropriate loading rate, estimated removal rate, and design wastewater flow rate.
Be able to use the sample spreadsheet included with the course to make process design calculations for a single stage BOD removal process in either U.S. units or S.I. units.
Be able to use the sample spreadsheet included with the course to make process design calculations for a single stage nitrification process in either U.S. units or S.I. units.
Be able to make process design calculations for a post-Anoxic denitrification MBBR process, including required tank sizes, estimated effluent concentrations, alkalinity requirement and carbon source requirement.
Be able to make process design calculations for a pre-anoxic denitrification MBBR process, including required tank sizes, estimated effluent concentrations, and alkalinity requirements.

Detailed Course Outline with Timeline

Introduction (2 min)
Learning Objectives for the Course (5 min)
General Information about the MBBR Wastewater Treatment Process (15 min)
MBBR Process Design Calculations for BOD Removal and Nitrification

Overview of MBBR Process Design Calculations (15 min)
Single-Stage BOD Removal Process Design Calculations (20 min)
Single Stage Nitrification Process DesignCalculations (20 min)
Two-Stage BOD Removal Process Design Calculations (20 min)
Two-Stage BOD Removal and Nitrification Process Design Calculations (15 min)

Introduction to MBBR Denitrification Processes (15 min)
Post-Anoxic Denitrification Process Design Calculations (20 min)
Pre-Anoxic Denitrification Process Design Calculations (20 min)
Summary (3 min)
References
Quiz (20 min)