CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

MSc Military Construction Engineering (Electrical and Mechanical)

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (FORMATIVE)

Tuesday 25 September 2018: 0900 - 1040

(The first 10 minutes (0900 - 0910) is set aside for reading time only)

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Use the Formula Sheet and property tables provided.

Ensure all working out is shown, any loose leaf inclusions (eg diagrams) must
be annotated with your student number.
Work in ink; do not use pencil.
Begin each question in a new answer book.
Number each answer clearly in the margin.
Marks per question are shown in brackets.
Show ALL calculations.
State any appropriate assumptions.
Attempt all questions.

Page 1 of 6
THERMODYNAMICS

1. The Otto cycle consists of the following processes:

1-2 Frictionless adiabatic compression

2-3 Constant volume pressure increase

3-4 Frictionless adiabatic expansion.

4-1 Constant volume pressure reduction.

A mass of 0.6g of fluid, at point 1 has a pressure and temperature of 100 kPa

and 15C respectively. The compression ratio is 10:1 and the heat transfer to

the air per cycle is 1800 kJ/kg. For the working gas  = 1.4 and Cp = 1.0049

kJ/kgK where  and Cp have their usual meanings.

a. Sketch the P - v and T - s diagrams for the cycle. List the pressure,

volume and specific enthalpy of the working fluid at each point.

(10 Marks)

For the cycle determine:

b. The work ratio (5 marks)

c. The nett work for a cycle operating speed of 3000 cycles/min

(5 marks)

Page 2 of 6
FLUIDS

2. A centrifugal pump, operating at 750 rpm, has the following characteristics

when tested with water at 10C. The pump has an impeller diameter of
500mm.

Head (m) 40 40.6 40.4 39.3 38.0 33.6 25.6 14.5 0

Flow (m3/hr) 0 7 14 21 28 35 42 49 56

Efficiency (%) 0 41 60 74 80 83 74 51 20

A geometrically similar pump will be employed in the system shown below to

fill a water tank (B) of diameter 6m. Draining of the tank is achieved through
a pipe, 3m long and 50 mm in diameter, at the base of the tank. The drain
pipe friction factor, , is 0.015.

Exit loss at ‘B’, k=1.0

4m

1m
Tank drain pipe
Pipe Diameter = 10cm
Friction factor, , = 0.015
Length A-B = 10 m
A
Pipe fitting losses, k, = 1.2

Entry loss at ‘A’, k=0.5

Figure 1. Fluid system for question 2

a. If the geometrically similar pump has an impeller diameter of 600

mm and operates at 600 rpm compute and plot the pump curve for

this new pump. (5 marks)

Page 3 of 6
 b. If the cost of electrical power is 3.5p /kWhr determine the cost of

filling tank B to a height of 6m using the pump computed in (a).

(10 marks)

c. Estimate the time taken to drain the tank to 50% of it’s capacity if

the pump were to be stopped and the drain pipe opened.

(5 marks)

Page 4 of 6
HEAT TRANSFER

3. Hot air flows with a mass flow rate of 0.05kg/s through an uninsulated

sheet metal duct of diameter 150mm in the crawlspace of a house. Hot air

enters the duct at 103C and, after a distance of L=5m, cools to 77C. The

ambient air temperature around the duct is 0C, the convection heat transfer

coefficient, h0 , between duct and air is known to be 6W/m2K.

a. Draw a thermal resistance model of the problem and calculate the

heat loss from the duct over the length, L. [5 marks]

b. Determine the heat flux at x=L and explain why the total heat loss at

this point differs from the answer calculated in (1). [10 marks]

c. Determine the duct surface temperature at x=L if 25mm of insulation

were to be fitted with a thermal conductivity, λ, of 0.028 W/mK.

[5 Marks]

END OF PAPER

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