CHAPTER 3: Laplace Transforms

Note that in solving (3-19)

both the forcing function (the
constant 2 on the right side)
and the initial condition have
been incorporated easily and
directly. As for any
differential equation solution,
Eq. 3-30 should be checked to
make sure it satisfies the
initial condition and the
original differential equation
for t ≥ 0.
To invert (3-33) to find 𝑦(𝑡), we must find a similar expression in Table
3.1. Unfortunately, no formula in the table has a fourth-order polynomial
in the denominator. This example will be continued later, after we develop
the techniques necessary to generalize the solution method in Section 3.3.
Equation 3-42 is thus the solution y(t) to the differential equation 3-31. The
𝛼𝑖 ′𝑠 are simply the coefficients of the solution. Equation 3-42 also satisfies the
three initial conditions of the differential equation. The reader should verify
the result.
In Eq. 3-40, the cubic polynomial has three roots that are all integer numbers.
This special situation is used for the purposes of illustration. In practical
problems, the roots are usually not integers.
EXAMPLE 3.3
Apply the Initial and Final Value Theorems to the transform derived in Example
3.1:

SOLUTION

The initial value of one corresponds to the initial condition given in Eq. 3-19.
The final value of 0.5 agrees with the time-domain solution in Eq. 3-30. Both
theorems are useful for checking mathematical errors that may occur in
obtaining Laplace transform solutions.
EXAMPLE 3.4
A process is described by a third-order ODE:

with all initial conditions on y, dy/dt, and 𝑑 2 𝑦/𝑑𝑡 2 equal to zero. Show that
for a step change in u of two units, the steady-state result in the time domain
Type equation here.
is the same as applying the Final Value Theorem.
SOLUTION
If u = 2, the steady-state result for y can be found by setting all derivatives
equal to zero and substituting for u. Therefore,
Equation 3-77 can be numerically
evaluated without difficulty for
particular values of t, noting that the
term in brackets is multiplied by 0
(the value of the unit step function) for
t < 2, and by 1 for t ≥ 2. An
equivalent and simpler method is to
evaluate the contributions from the
bracketed time functions only when
the time arguments are nonnegative.
An alternative way of writing Eq. 3-
77 is as two equations, each one
applicable over a particular interval of
time:
EXAMPLE 3.6
The Ideal Gas Company has a fixed-volume, stirred-tank reactor
that is shown in Fig. 3.4. The three IGC engineers who are
responsible for reactor operations—Kim Ng, Casey Gain, and Tim
Delay—are concerned about the adequacy of mixing in the tank
and want to run a tracer test on the system to determine whether
dead zones and/or channeling exist. Their idea is to operate the
reactor at a temperature low enough that reaction will not occur
and then apply a rectangular pulse in the feed concentration for
test purposes. In this way, available instrumentation on the exit
line can be used to measure the exit concentration. Before
performing the test, the engineers would like to have a good idea
of the results that should be expected if perfect mixing actually is
accomplished in the reactor. A rectangular pulse input for the
change in feed concentration will be used with the restriction that
the resulting exit concentration changes must be large enough to
be measured accurately. The operating conditions for the reactor
test are given in Table 3.2. Figure 3.5 shows the proposed pulse
change of 0.25 min duration that can be made while
maintaining the total reactor input flow rate constant.
As part of the theoretical analysis, Kim,
Casey, and Tim would like to know how
closely the exit concentration response c(t)
to the rectangular pulse can be
approximated by the response to an impulse
of equivalent magnitude. Based on these
considerations, they need to obtain the
following information:
(a) The magnitude of an impulse input
equivalent to the rectangular pulse of Fig.
3.5.
(b) The impulse and rectangular pulse
responses of the exit reactant concentration.
SOLUTION
The reactor model for a single-stage CSTR was given in Eq. 2-66 as

where c is the reactant concentration of component A. Because the reaction term

can be neglected in this example (k = 0), the reactor is merely a continuous-
flow mixer. Substituting numerical values gives

If the system initially is at steady state, the exit and feed concentrations are
equal: