Computational McCabe–Thiele Simulator

The textbook McCabe–Thiele construction is usually taught as something you do once, by hand, on graph paper, for one column with one feed. That is fine for learning the geometry and useless the moment the column has a side stream.

This is the same method written as software: a set of reusable MATLAB functions behind a single execution script, so the same code applies across a range of Unit Operations problems rather than one assigned case.

What it solves

• Multi-section columns with arbitrary feeds and side streams, including subcooled reflux.
• Section-wise material balances, q-lines, and operating lines.
• Vapour–liquid equilibrium fitting and interpolation from tabulated data.
• Curve-intersection detection, so the operating-line and equilibrium intersections are found rather than eyeballed.
• Murphree efficiency with a pseudo-equilibrium correction.
• Automated stage stepping.

The browser version

Once the MATLAB model was validated, I ported it to a browser-based JavaScript/HTML implementation, so the construction can be driven interactively without a MATLAB licence. It runs entirely in the page, with no account and no server: open the McCabe–Thiele designer.

Built for Unit Operations, self-directed.