ME2121/ME2121E

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

ME2121/ME2121E - ENGINEERING THERMODYNAMICS

(Semester 1 : AY2016/2017)

Time Allowed : 2 Hours

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS:

1. Please write your student number only. Do not write your name.

2. This assessment paper contains FOUR (4) questions and comprises FOUR (4) printed
pages.

3. Students are required to answer ALL questions.

4. Students should write the answers for each question on a new page.

5. This is a CLOSED BOOK ASSESSMENT. Students are not allowed to bring in any
reference materials into the examination hall.

6. Tables of Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of Fluids by Y.R. Mayhew and

G.F.C. Rogers are provided.

7. Programmable calculators are NOT allowed for this assessment.

 Correction: Change the temperature unit for the steam turbine from [K] to [°C]

-3649 kJ/s

24266 kJ/s

For the compressor, the working For the turbine, the working fluid
fluid is air. So apply SFEE for an is steam. So apply SFEE for an
ideal gas. KE and PE are steam/water. KE and PE are
negligible. Δh=CpΔT. negligible. Superheated steam in
and wet steam out. Refer to the
steam tables for values of h.
→ °C
Note that for the steam turbine,
W(dot) = W12(dot)+W34(dot)
 PAGE3 ME2121/ME2121E

OUESTION2

A piston-cylinder device contains 1.2 m3 of helium gas initially at 200 kPa and 25°C. The gas
is then compressed in a polytropic process (PV ·2 67= constant) to 350 kPa and l 50°C. The
surrounding is at a temperature of 30°C. Stating your assumption(s) , determine:

(a) the mass of helium gas; 0.3878 kg

(4 marks)

(b) the work done and heat transfer in the process; -60.29 kJ, 90.76 kJ
(9 marks)

(c) the entropy change of helium; 0.2547 kJ/K

(5 marks)

(d) the entropy change of the surrounding; and -0.2995 kJ/K

(3 marks)

(e) whether the process is reversible, irreversible or impossible. Impossible

(4 marks)

You may use the following constants for helium gas:

Universal gas constant, Ro= 8.3145 kJ/kmol.K
Molecular mass, M= 4.003 kg/kmol
Specific heat at constant pressure, Cp = 5.193 kJ/kg.K

This is regarding a closed system for an ideal gas.

(a) Can be solved from EOS
(b) Just apply the work done formula for the polytropic process
(supposed to be memorized)
Apply first law for a closed system and Joule’s Law
(c) Apply the entropy change formula for an ideal gas
(d) Apply the entropy change for the special case (constant
temperature)
(e) Check the entropy change of the isolated system