The Equations of Change for

Nonisothermal Systems
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter we generalize the shell energy balance and
obtain the equation of energy, a partial differential equation
that describes the transport of energy in a homogeneous fluid
or solid.
THE ENERGY EQUATION
The equation of change for energy is obtained by applying the
law of conservation of energy to a small element of volume
x y z.

The law of conservation of energy is an extension of the first

law of classical thermodynamics, which concerns the
difference in internal energies of two equilibrium states of a
closed system because of the heat added to the system and
the work done on the system (that is, the familiar
U=Q+W).
 Here we are interested in a stationary volume element, fixed in
space, through which a fluid is flowing. Both kinetic energy and
internal energy may be entering and leaving the system by
convective transport.

Heat may enter and leave the system by heat conduction as well.
As we saw in Chapter 9, heat conduction is fundamentally a
molecular process.

Work may be done on the moving fluid by the stresses, and this,
too, is a molecular process. This term includes the work done by
pressure forces and by viscous forces.

In addition, work may be done on the system by virtue of the

external forces, such as gravity.
 In developing the energy equation we will use the e vector,
which includes the first three brackets on the right side of
above equation.
Several comments need to be made before proceeding:
(i) By kinetic energy we mean that energy associated with the
observable motion of the fluid, which is 1/2v2 = 1/2(v
. v), per unit volume. Here v is the fluid velocity vector.

(ii) By internal energy we mean the kinetic energies of the

constituent molecules calculated in a frame moving with
the velocity v, plus the energies associated with the
vibrational and rotational motions of the molecules and
also the energies of interaction among all the molecules. It
is assumed that the internal energy U for a flowing fluid is
the same function of temperature and density as that for a
fluid at equilibrium.
(iii) The potential energy does not appear in Eq. 11.1-1, since we
prefer instead to consider the work done on the system by
gravity. At the end of this section, however, we show how to
express this work in terms of the potential energy.
 The rate of increase of kinetic and internal energy within the
volume element x y z is

Next we have to know how much energy enters and leaves

across the faces of the volume element x y z.

Keep in mind that the e vector includes the convective transport

of kinetic and internal energy, the heat conduction, and the
work associated with molecular processes.
 The rate at which work is done on the fluid by the external
force is the dot product of the fluid velocity v and the force
acting on the fluid ( x y z)g, or

We now insert these various contributions into Eq. 11.1-1 and

then divide by x y z. When x, y, and z are allowed to
go to zero, we get
 This equation does not include nuclear, radioactive,
electromagnetic, or chemical forms of energy
 The equation can be written in another form to include the
potential energy per unit mass,

Finally, we get: