ENGR 2010 Thermodynamics I: HW set 10

Most of these problems deal with the isentropic efficiency of turbines, compressors, and pumps. When these devices are
adiabatic (as is often the case), a comparison can be made between the performance of the actual, irreversible device and a
perfect, reversible one operating between the same inlet state and exit pressure. It is important to note that the actual exit
state of the actual device (denoted as state 2a) will not be the same as the hypothetical exit state of the reversible device
(denoted as 2s).
For work producing devices (turbines), the isentropic efficiency is defined as

wa h1 − h2a
ηt = =
ws h1 − h2s
with state 2 fixed by the two properties P2 and s2s = s1 . For work consuming devices (pumps, compressors), the definition
of isentropic efficiency is flipped:
ws h1 − h2s
ηc = =
wa h1 − h2a
Reversible behavior always gives us optimum performance. For a turbine, this means more work out relative to the actual
device (ws > wa ), and for the compressor/pump, it means less work in (|ws | < |wa |).
There is one problem involving an isothermal (as opposed to adiabatic) air compressor. The idea here is to cool the air
(i.e., remove heat) as it is compressed. When the process is assumed to be reversible and isothermal, the heat transfer in the
process can be predicted from application of the second law. On a per-unit-mass basis,

q = T (s2 − s1 )

where T = T1 = T2 = the constant temperature of the stream through the compressor. Couple this formula with the first
law, and you can get a formula to predict the work input of an isothermal and reversible compressor.
The benefit of this approach is that an isothermal and reversible compression between two pressures P1 and P2 will take
less work than an adiabatic and reversible compression between the same pressures.

1. Steam enters an adiabatic turbine at 350◦ C and 2 MPa.
The exit from the turbine is a saturated vapor at 50
kPa. Determine the isentropic efficiency of the turbine.
3. Steam enters an adiabatic turbine at 400◦ C, 2 MPa pres-
h1 = 3137.0 kJ/kg, s1 = 6.956 kJ/kg K
State 2s : s2s = s1 and P2 = 50 kPa: h2s =
2419.8 kJ/kg and
ws = h1 − h2s = 717.2 kJ/kg
h2a = h1 − wa = 3044.5 kJ/kg
and at this enthalpy and P2 = 500 kPa: T2 = 290.5◦ C:
this is a superheated state.
sure. The turbine has an isentropic efficiency of 0.9.
The exit pressure is set so that the actual work output
from the turbine is wa = 700 kJ/kg. Determine the
required exit pressure and the actual exit temperature
and quality, if saturated.

State 2a : x2a = 1 and P2 = 50 kPa: h2a =

h1 = 3247.6 kJ/kg, s1 = 7.127 kJ/kg K
2645.9 kJ/kg, and
h2a = h1 − wa = 2547.6 kJ/kg
wa = h1 − h2a = 491.1 kJ/kg ws =
wa
= 777.8 kJ/kg
ηt
wa
ηt = = 0.68 h2s = h1 − ws = 2469.8 kJ/kg
ws
h2s and s2s = s1 fix state 2s. This is a difficult dou-
◦ ble interpolation problem if solved using the property
2. Steam at 500 C, 3 MPa pressure enters an adiabatic
turbine at the rate of ṁ = 10 kg/s. The exit pressure is tables, yet it is trivial using the code. The pair gives
500 kPa, and the isentropic efficiency is ηt = 0.8. Deter- P2s = P2 = 46.6 kPa. State 2a is now fixed by P2 and
mine the power output and the actual exit temperature h2a , for which T2a = 79.6◦ C and x2a = 0.959.
of the steam. 4. Air enters a adiabatic turbine at 1200 K and 8 atm pres-
sure. The exit pressure is 1 atm. The turbine has an
h1 = 3456.5 kJ/kg, s1 = 7.234 kJ/kg K isentropic efficiency of 0.85. Determine the actual exit
temperature and the work per unit mass. Use the air
s2s = s1 , P2 = 500 kPa : h2s = 2941.5 kJ/kg tables to solve this problem.
ws = h1 − h2s = 515 kJ/kg, wa = ηt wa = 412 kJ/kg From the air tables at 1200 K,
Ẇ = ṁ wa = 4120 kW h1 = 1278 kJ/kg, s◦1 = 3.179 kJ/kg K
 The isentropic process 1 − 2s has ∆s = 0, so a) An adiabatic and reversible process is isentropic. As-
( ) suming ideal gas behavior with constant specific heats,
◦ ◦ P2 the exit temperature will be
s2s = s1 + R ln = 2.58 kJ/kg K
P1
( )(k−1)/k
P2
and interpolating gives h2s = 721 kJ/kg. T2 = T1 = 300 · 100.4/1.4 = 579.2 K
P1
ws = h1 − h2s = 557 kJ/kg and the specific work is
wa = ηt ws = 473 kJ/kg w = Cp (T1 − T2 ) = 1.01 · (300 − 579.2) = −282.0 kJ/kg
h2a = h1 − wa = 805 kJ/kg
b) the specific work for an isothermal and reversible
Interpolating in the air tables with this enthalpy gives SSSF process is
T2a = 783 K.
( )
P2
5. Air enters an adiabatic compressor at 300 K, 1 atm pres- w = −R T ln = −0.287·300·ln 10 = −198.3 kJ/kg
P1
sure. The work input to the compressor is 350 kJ per
kg of air flowing through the compressor. Given that
the compressor has an isentropic efficiency of 0.85, cal- The isothermal process uses about 2/3 of the work as
culate the actual exit temperature and pressure of the the adiabatic one.
compressor. Use the constant specific heat relations for 7. Steam enters a turbine at 350◦ C, and exits at 50 kPa.
this problem: The isentropic efficiency of the turbine is 0.85. To pre-
vent corrosion of the turbine by liquid water, the inlet
( )(k−1)/k pressure must be set so that the actual exit is a sat-
T2s P2 urated vapor at 50 kPa. Determine the required inlet
h2 − h1 = CP (T2 − T1 ), =
T1 P1 pressure. This is a challenging problem, not for the faint
of heart. Solution requires iteration.
with CP = 1.01 kJ/kg K and k = 1.4 for air.
The problem states that h2a = hg at 50 kPa. Two prop-
erties are needed to fix state 1 and we know only one of
wa = h1 − h2a ≈ CP (T1 − T2a ) = −350 kJ/kg them: T1 = 350◦ C. The basic procedure is as follows:
wa
T2a = T1 − = 647 K (a) Guess a value of P1 (say P1 = 1 MPa).
CP
(b) fix state 1 with T1 and P1 , get state 2s, calculate
ws = ηc wa ≈ CP (T1 − T2s )
ws , wa = ηt ws , and calculate h′2a = h1 −wa : this is
Solve to get T2s = 595 K. Since 1 − 2s is isentropic; the value of the actual exit enthalpy corresponding
( )k/(k−1) to the guessed P1 .
T2s (c) Calculate ∆h = h′2a − h2a , where h2a = hg at 50
P2 = P1 = 10.96 atm
T1 kPa is the sought actual exit enthalpy.
(d) If ∆h < 0 or > 0 the pressure P1 is too high or
too low, respectively. Return to step 1 with a new
6. Compare the work per unit mass required to compress
P1 , and iterate until you get two points with ∆h
air, initially at 1 atm, 300 K, to 10 atm in a) an adia-
bracketing zero. Interpolate with ∆h = 0 to get
batic and reversible process, and b) an isothermal and
P1 .
reversible process. Assume constant specific heats.