Handout on Basic Revision of Thermodynamics by AAK

Thermodynamics:
In modern era, thermodynamics can be defined as science of energy.
Thermodynamics is the study of the various processes that change energy from one form into
another (such as converting heat into work) and uses variables such as temperature, volume,
and pressure.
 Energy can be defined as an ability to cause change.
 Heat is defined as the form of energy that is transferred between two systems (or a
system and its surroundings) by virtue of a temperature difference.

Conservation of Energy Principle:

During an interaction, energy can change from one form to another but the total amount of
energy remains constant.

First Law of Thermodynamics:

It is an expression of conversation of energy principle. It asserts that, energy is a
thermodynamic property.

Second Law of Thermodynamics:

It asserts that, energy has quality as well as quantity. Actual process occurs in the direction of
decreasing quality of energy.
 Macroscopic approach in which the overall behaviour of a substance is considered.
 Microscopic approach in which behaviour of individual particles of a substance in
considered.
 Total energy content of a body/system is called internal energy(u)
 Total heat content of a body/system is called Enthalpy (h).It is a combination property.
H = U + PV [kJ]
h = u + pv [kJ/kg]
 A system is defined as a quantity of matter or a region in space chosen for study.
 The mass or region outside the system is called the surroundings.
 The real or imaginary surface that separates the system from its surroundings is called the
boundary

 A closed system (also known as a control mass) consists of a fixed amount of mass, and
no mass can cross its boundary. That is, no mass can enter or leave a closed system, as
shown in figure below. But energy, in the form of heat or work, can cross the boundary;
and the volume of a closed system does not have to be fixed. If, as a special case, even
energy is not allowed to cross the boundary, that system is called an isolated system.

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 An open system, or a control volume, as it is often called, is a properly selected region in space. It
usually encloses a device that involves mass flow such as a compressor, turbine, or nozzle. Flow
through these devices is best studied by selecting the region within the device as the control volume.
Both mass and energy can cross the boundary of a control volume. A large number of engineering
problems involve mass flow in and out of a system and, therefore, are modeled as control volumes.
When mass enters a system, it brings energy too, similarly when mass leaves, it takes away energy too.
 Intensive properties are those that are independent of the mass of a system, such as temperature,
pressure, and density.
 Extensive properties are those whose values depend on the size—or extent—of the system. Total
mass, total volume, and total momentum are some examples of extensive properties
 State–description of a matter at a given time.
 Process–occurs when matter passes from one state to another.
 Cycle: process with identical end states is called Cycle. Properties of system at the end of
cycle are same as at the beginning.

Forms of Energies of a System:

Total Energy of a System
It is the sum of all energies of a system including thermal, mechanical, kinetic, potential,
electric, magnetic, chemical and nuclear etc. Symbol: E [kJ] Specific: e = E/m (kJ/kg)
Macroscopic Forms of Energies of a System
Energies with respect to some outside reference are called macroscopic forms of energies.
For example:
i) Kinetic Energy: Energy due to motion Symbol: KE = mV2/2 [kJ], Specific: ke = V2/2
[kJ/kg]
ii) Potential Energy (PE): Energy due to elevation in gravitational field Symbol: PE = mgz
[kJ]; where g=9.81 m/s2 or 32.2 ft/s2 Specific: pe = gz [kJ/kg]
Microscopic Forms of Energies of a System
Energies due to internal molecular activity and molecular structure are called microscopic
forms of energies.
For example:
i) Sensible Energy: It is associated with the kinetic energy of molecules. e.g. temperature of
liquid water rise and can be seen on thermometer when heated.
ii) Latent Energy: It is associated with the charges of phase of a system. e.g. temperature of
water remains constant when it is boiling (changing phase)
iii) Internal Energy: Sum of all microscopic energies is called internal energy. i.e. Internal
Energy = Sensible Energy + Latent Energy Symbol: U [kJ] Specific: u = U/m [kJ/kg]
Note:
E = Macroscopic + Microscopic = (KE + PE) + (Sensible + Latent) = KE + PE + U
Closed systems whose velocity and elevation of the centre of gravity remain constant during

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 Handout on Basic Revision of Thermodynamics by AAK
a process are frequently referred to as stationary systems. The change in the total energy E of
a stationary system is identical to the change in its internal energy U.
The Steady-Flow Process
The term steady implies no change with time. The opposite of steady is unsteady, or transient.
The term uniform, however, implies no change with location over a specified region.
A large number of engineering devices operate for long periods of time under the same
conditions, and they are classified as steady-flow devices. Processes involving such devices
can be represented reasonably well by a somewhat idealized process, called the steady-flow
process, which can be defined as a process during which a fluid flows through a control
volume steadily

Steady State Energy Equation:

Steady-state, steady-flow for one entrance and one exit

A number of thermodynamic devices such as pumps, fans, compressors, turbines, nozzles,

diffusers, and heaters operate with one entrance and one exit. The steady-state, steady-flow
conservation of mass and first law of thermodynamics for these systems reduce to

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where the entrance to the control volume is state 1 and the exit is state 2.
When can we neglect the kinetic and potential energy terms in the first law?
Consider the kinetic and potential energies per unit mass.
2
V
ke 
2
 m (45m / s) 2 1kJ / kg kJ
For V = 45 ke   1
s 2 1000m2 / s 2 kg
 m (140m / s) 2 1kJ / kg kJ
V = 140 ke   10
s 2 1000m2 / s 2 kg

pe  gz
m 1kJ / kg kJ
For z  100m pe  9.8 100m  0.98
s2 1000m2 / s 2 kg
m 1kJ / kg kJ
z  1000m pe  9.8 2 1000m  9.8
s 1000m2 / s 2 kg
When compared to the enthalpy of steam (h  2000 to 3000 kJ/kg) and the enthalpy of air (h
 200 to 6000 kJ/kg), the kinetic and potential energies are often neglected. When the kinetic
and potential energies can be neglected, the conservation of energy equation becomes

Q W m(h2  h1 ) ( kW )

We often write this last result per unit mass flow as

q  w  (h2  h1 ) ( kJ / kg )

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Q W
where q  and w  .
m m
For Nozzle and Diffuser:

For flow through nozzles, the heat transfer, work, and potential energy are normally
neglected, and nozzles have one entrance and one exit. The conservation of energy becomes


Solving for V2
 2
V2  2(h1  h2 )  V1
For Turbine:

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If we neglect the changes in kinetic and potential energies as fluid flows through an adiabatic
turbine having one entrance and one exit, the conservation of mass and the steady-state,
steady-flow first law becomes

For Liquid pump:

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The work required when pumping an incompressible liquid in an adiabatic steady-state,

steady-flow process is given by

The enthalpy difference can be written as

h2  h1  (u2  u1 )  ( Pv ) 2  ( Pv )1
For incompressible liquids we assume that the density and specific volume are constant. The
pumping process for an incompressible liquid is essentially isothermal, and the internal
energy change is approximately zero (we will see this more clearly after introducing the
second law). Thus, the enthalpy difference reduces to the difference in the pressure-specific
volume products. Since v2 = v1 = v the work input to the pump becomes

Wis the net work done by the control volume, and it is noted that work is input to the pump.
If we neglect the changes in kinetic and potential energies, the pump work becomes

 ( Win , pump )  mv ( P2  P1 ) ( kW )

Win , pump  mv ( P2  P1 )
We use this result to calculate the work supplied to boiler feedwater pumps in steam power
plants.
Steam and its Properties:

As shown in the diagram below, there are three types of steam:

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 Higher is the pressure (P):

a. higher is saturation temperature (Tsat)
b. more is specific volume of saturation liquid
c. less is specific volume of saturation vapors
Critical Point: A point at which the saturated liquid and saturated vapour states are identical
is known as critical point. Above this point there is no distinct vaporization process.
Triple Point: Triple point is a line on pv diagram where all the three phases Solid,Liquid and
gases co-exist in equilibrium.
 At critical point where Pcr=22.09 MPa and Tcr=375.14°C, saturation liquid and
saturation vapors states are identical i.e. vcr = 0.003155 m3/kg.
Wet steam: A mixture of water plus steam (liquid plus vapor) at the boiling point
temperature of water at a given pressure. Quality of steam refers to the fraction or percentage
of gaseous steam in a wet steam mixture.
Dry steam: Steam, at the given pressure, that contains no water (also referred to as saturated
steam). The steam quality = 100%. At the top of steam generator units for producing
saturated steam, there are moisture separators used to remove residual water droplets from
outgoing steam.
Superheated steam: Dry steam, at the given pressure, that has been heated to a temperature
higher than the boiling point of water at that pressure.
Dryness fraction (x): is a ratio of vapor mass to the total mass.

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As shown in the above fig.

υf: specific volume of saturated liquid.
υg : specific volume of saturated vapor.
υfg : difference between υg and υf (that is, υfg= υg- υf)

Latent heat of fusion: It is the heat which is absorbed during melting or released during
freezing of a pure substance. E.g. latent heat of fusion for water is (approx.) 333 kJ/kg at 1
atm.
ICE LIQUID
Latent heat of vaporization (hfg): It is the heat which is absorbed during vaporization or
released during condensation of a pure substance. E.g. latent heat of vaporization for water is
(approx.) 2257 kJ/kg at 1 atm.
LIQUIDVAPORS
Super-heated vapor: When the temperature of the vapor is higher than the saturated
temperature of this vapor is called super-heated vapor.
Degree of super heat: is the difference between the saturated temperature and super heated
temperature.
Degree = Tsup. - Tsat.

T-S (Temperature-Entropy Diagram)

T-s diagram is the type of diagram most frequently used to analyze energy transfer system
cycles. This is because the work done by or on the system and the heat added to or removed
from the system can be visualized on the T-s diagram. By the definition of entropy, the heat
transferred to or from a system equals the area under the T-s curve of the process. This Figure
is the T-s diagram for pure water. A T-s diagram can be constructed for any pure substance.

Enthalpy- Entropy (h-s) Diagram:

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The (h –s) diagram is also called the Mollier diagram or Mollier chart, named after Dr.
Richard Mollier of Dresden who first devised the idea of such a diagram in 1904.The Mollier
diagram is useful when analyzing the performance of adiabatic steady-flow processes, such
as flow in nozzles, diffusers, turbines and compressors. The chart contains a series of
constant Temperature lines, a series of constant pressure lines, a series of constant quality
lines, and a series of constant superheat lines.

 h-s chart / Mollier diagram cover a pressure range of 0.01-1000 bar and temperature up to
800°C.
 It is useful only for the enthalpy change in expansion process of the steam cycle not in the
condenser.
 P1,P2, etc. are lines of constant pressure.
 T1,T2, etc. are lines of constant temperature are drawn in the superheated region.
 Coordinates on the diagram represent entropy (x-axis) and enthalpy (y-axis).
 Example: P1 and x1 define state A and hA can be read off the vertical axis.
 A line of constant entropy between two state points B and C defines the properties at all
points during isentropic process between 2 states.

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 Work done on is represented by length, so it can be measured directly, whereas in a T-s

diagram it is shown as an area. Lines of constant dryness fraction (x), sometimes called
the quality of the steam, and are drawn in the wet region.
 Above the heavy line, the temperature is above the boiling point, and the dry
(superheated) steam consists of gas only.

Thermodynamics review power cycles

The power cycle is the continuous conversion of heat into work. Thermodynamic analysis of
power cycle is the study of the behavior of working substances undergoing a change of phase
such as steam, or the behavior of gas when used as working substance.
The behavior of the working fluid through the power cycle is known as “process”, where
“process occurs when matter passes from one state to another”
There are many types of processes in thermal engineering, some of which related to power
plant engineering can briefed as follows:
Reversibility: when a fluid undergoes a reversible process, both the fluid and its surrounding
can always be restored to their original state. This is almost always related to theoretical
considerations.
Irreversibility: when a fluid undergoes an irreversible process, both the fluid and its
surrounding cannot be restored to their original state. This is almost always related to real and
practical considerations.
Isothermal process: is a process when there is no temperature change, i.e. constant
temperature throughout the process.
Adiabatic process: is a process when there is no heat transferred to or from the fluid during
such process. Such process can be reversible or irreversible.
Isentropic process: it is a “reversible and adiabatic “process at constant entropy.
PVk = constant (k) is specific heat ratio k=Cp/Cv
Isobaric process: is a constant pressure process, where a change of state during which the
pressure remains constant, i.e. [V2/V1= T2/T1where P = constant].
Polytropic process: is an internally reversible process which confirms to the relation
PVn = constant where (n) any constant value

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Throttling process: When the flow through a valve or other restriction is idealized in this
way, the process is called a throttling process.

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