Engineering Thermodynamics - ME25301

 

ME25301

Engineering Thermodynamics

 

Course Objectives:

This course introduces the fundamental principles and laws of thermodynamics related to energy, heat, work, and properties of pure substances. It develops the ability to analyze thermodynamic systems using the First and Second Laws, and to evaluate system performance using entropy, exergy, and property relations. The course also emphasizes solving engineering problems through analytical approaches.

Basic Concepts: Continuum and macroscopic approach; thermodynamic systems (closed and open); thermodynamic properties and equilibrium; state of a system, state postulate for simple compressible substances, state diagrams, paths and processes on state diagrams, ideal gas equation of state; concept of temperature, zeroth law of thermodynamics, thermodynamic temperature scale.

Activities:

• Identify and report closed and open thermodynamic systems from daily life.

• Fabricate a transparent plunger–cylinder setup to demonstrate an adiabatic process.

• Demonstrate Boyle’s law and Charles’s law.

 

First Law of Thermodynamics: Concept of energy and its various forms, concepts of heat, work and different modes of work; reversible and irreversible processes, concept of moving boundary work; first law applied to elementary processes, closed systems and control volumes, steady and unsteady flow analysis.

Activities:

• Develop a program to compute moving boundary work for different polytropic processes and plot P–V diagrams.

 

Second Law of Thermodynamics: Limitations of the first law of thermodynamics, concepts of heat engines and heat pumps/refrigerators, Kelvin-Planck and Clausius statements and their equivalence; perpetual motion machines, Carnot cycle and Carnot principles/theorems; Clausius inequality and concept of entropy; microscopic interpretation of entropy, the principle of increase of entropy, T-s diagrams; second law analysis of control volume; exergy analysis of closed and open systems; basics of third law of thermodynamics.

Activities:

• Develop a program to generate P–v and T–s diagrams for a Carnot cycle and evaluate heat transfer, work, and efficiency.

• Develop a program to analyze energy balance, exergy balance, exergy destruction, and second-law efficiency of steady-flow systems.

 

Properties of Pure Substances: Pure substances and their phases; Phase-change processes of pure substances, property diagrams for phase-change processes; Gibbs phase rule, thermodynamic property tables and charts; real gases and van der Waals equation of state; compressibility factor, principle of corresponding states, generalized compressibility chart.

Activities:

• Develop a program to generate T–v, P–v, and P–T diagrams for water using thermodynamic property correlations.

• Develop a program to evaluate the ideal-gas approximation error for water vapour under varying conditions.

Thermodynamic Relations: Reciprocity and cyclic relation, Helmholtz and Gibbs functions, Maxwell relations; Clapeyron and Clapeyron–Clausius equations; volume expansivity, isothermal and adiabatic compressibility, Mayer relation; Joule- Thomson coefficient.

Activities:

Develop a program to numerically verify a Maxwell relation using thermodynamic property data.

 

Weightage: Continuous Assessment: 40%, End Semester Examinations: 60%

Assessment Methodology: Quiz (5%), Assignments (25%), Review of GATE/ESE

Questions, Internal Examinations (50%)

 

References:

1. Cengel. Y. A. and Boles. M. A., “Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach”, 10th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2025.

2. Moran. M. J., Shapiro. H. N., Boettner. D. D. and Bailey. M. B., “Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics”, 9th Edition, Wiley, 2018.

3. Nag. P. K., “Engineering Thermodynamics”, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, 2025.