CHAPTER 1 & 2.

THERMODYNAMIC CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

Engineering thermodynamics – is a science that involves the design and analysis of devices and systems
for energy conversion. It deals with heat and work and those properties of substances related to heat and
work. It is characterizes by a few basic principles that can be applied to a great variety of problems in
different fields.

Working substance – is usually a fluid in which energy can be stored or from which energy can be
removed. The function of the working substance is to receive, transport, or disperse heat, work, or energy.
Examples: steam in a steam turbine, air in an air compressor, air and fuel mixture in an internal combustion
engine.

A thermodynamic system (or simply system) is any quantity of matter or any region of space which we
consider or analyze.

Surroundings are defined as everything external to the system.

Boundary is the interfere between a system and its surroundings, usually represented in a diagram by
broken lines.

A closed system (control mass) is a system where no mass can cross its boundary. Only energy can enter
and leave a closed system.
Examples:
1. The gas inside a closed balloon (Figure 1)
2. A gas trapped in a cylinder by a movable piston (figure 2)

Figure 1
Figure 2

An open system (or control volume) is a system that permits the transfer of both mass and energy across
its boundary.
Examples:
1. The balloon may have gas entering or leaving at the open lower end (figure 3)
2. The jet engine has air and fuel entering and exhaust gases leaving (figure 4)
3. The window air conditioning has fluids crossing the boundary at five different sections: indoor
air entering, outdoor air entering, conditioned air leaving, warm air being discharged to the
atmosphere, and liquid water leaving (figure 5).

Note: in all thermodynamic analyses, the first step is to identify the kind of system involved.
 Figure 3 Figure 4

Figure 5

A thermodynamic property (or simply property) is any measurable characteristic of a system. It is a

quantity whose numerical value depends on the state of a system.
Example: pressure, temperature, volume, specific volume

Note: Most properties are measureable. However, we also need to apply the thermodynamic laws to a few
unmeasurable properties. Thus, property analysis may be done to relate the required unmeasurable
properties to measureable properties.

An extensive property is a property that depends on the amount of mass or material in a system
Example: mass, total volume

An intensive property is independent of the size or the amount of mass or material in a system
Example: specific volume, temperature, pressure, density
Some observable properties

The density (ρ) of a substance is defined as the mass of a substance per unit volume. That is;

𝑚
𝜌= [𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚3 , 𝑙𝑏𝑚 ⁄𝑓𝑡 3 ]
𝑉

Where: 𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 [𝑘𝑔, 𝑙𝑏𝑚 ]

𝑉 = 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 [𝑚3 , 𝑓𝑡 3 ]

Specific volume (𝝂) is defined as the volume per unit mass. The specific volume of a substance is therefore
the reciprocal of its density.

𝑉
𝜈= [ 𝑚3 ⁄𝑘𝑔 , 𝑓𝑡 3 ⁄𝑙𝑏𝑚 ]
𝑚

Specific weight (𝜸) is the weight of the substance per unit volume.

𝑊
𝛾= = 𝜌𝑔 [ 𝑘𝑁 ⁄𝑚3 , 𝑁⁄𝑚3 , 𝑙𝑏𝑓 ⁄𝑓𝑡 3 ]
𝑉

Where: 𝑊 = 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 [𝑘𝑁, 𝑁, 𝑙𝑏𝑓 ]

𝑔 = 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑎 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙
𝑔 = 9.81 𝑚⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 2
𝑔 = 32.2 𝑓𝑡⁄𝑠𝑒𝑐 2

Weight (𝑾) is the force of gravity on a substance.

𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔 [ 𝑘𝑁, 𝑁, 𝑙𝑏𝑓 ]

Specific gravity (SG) is defined as the ratio of the specific weight of a substance to the specific weight of
water/air.
𝛾 𝜌
𝑆𝐺 = =
𝛾𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝜌𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟

Note: at 4𝑜 𝐶 𝑎𝑛𝑑 101.325 𝑘𝑃𝑎

𝜌𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 1.0 𝑔⁄𝑐𝑚3 = 1000 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚3

𝛾𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 9.807 𝑘𝑁 ⁄𝑚3
Pressure (p) is defined as a normal force per unit area. Such force is acting on the surface of a system.

𝐹
𝑝= [ 𝑘𝑃𝑎, 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑐𝑚2 , 𝑝𝑠𝑖 ]
𝐴

Where: 𝐹 = 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 [𝑘𝑁, 𝑁, 𝑘𝑔𝑓 , 𝑙𝑏𝑓 ]

𝐴 = 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 [ 𝑚2 , 𝑐𝑚2 , 𝑓𝑡 2 , 𝑖𝑛2 ]

Fluid pressure can be measured using a variety of mechanical devices.

1. Bourdon gauge (figure 6) are simple mechanical devices calibrated to read pressure directly by the
movement of a needle attached to a hollow tube connected to a pressurized container.

Figure 6

2. The height (h) of a fluid column can also be used for pressure measurement. A pressure gauge
which uses this principle is called a manometer (figure 7). A manometer that is used to measure the
pressure of the atmosphere is called a barometer.

𝑝𝑔𝑎𝑢𝑔𝑒 = 𝛾ℎ = 𝜌𝑔ℎ

Where: 𝜌 = 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑

ℎ = ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑

Figure 7

Absolute pressure is the actual pressure at a given position in a system. Most pressure-measuring
instruments measure the difference between the pressure of a fluid and the pressure of the
atmosphere and give readings with the atmospheric pressure as the reference point. Such a pressure
reading is called the gauge pressure of the fluid. The absolute pressure 𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 is related to the gauge
pressure 𝑝𝑔𝑎𝑢𝑔𝑒 and the atmospheric pressure 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 as:

𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 + 𝑝𝑔𝑎𝑢𝑔𝑒

Figure 8

If a fluid exists at a pressure lower than the atmosphere pressure, its gauge pressure is negative
(figure 8). It is convenient to apply the term vacuum to the magnitude of the gauge pressure and
make a vacuum measurement a positive value , so that the 𝑝𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑢𝑚 is related to the absolute
pressure 𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 and the atmospheric pressure 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 as:

𝑝𝑎𝑏𝑠 = 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑚 − 𝑝𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑢𝑚

Note:
Temperature (T) is a measure of the “hotness” or “coldness” of a substance. The temperature of
a system is related to the movement of the molecules that comprise the system. Note that as the
temperature increases, the molecular activity also increases. Below are the conversion formulas
from one unit of temperature to another.
9
℉ = ℃ + 32
5

5
℃ = (℉ − 32)
9

°𝑅 = ℉ + 460

𝐾 = ℃ + 273

9
°𝑅 = 𝐾
5

State is the condition of a system as indicated by its properties.

A process is the progress of a system proceeding from an initial state to a final state.

An internally reversible process (or quasi-equilibrium) is an ideal process in which a system

remains infinitesimally close to equilibrium condition throughout the process. The concept of
internally reversible process is useful in describing or analyzing actual processes.

Isothermal process is a process in which the temperature remains constant.

Isobaric process is a process in which the pressure remains constant.

Isochoric (or isometric) process is a process in which the volume remains constant.

Adiabatic process is a process in which there is no heat transfer across the boundary of a system.

A cycle is a process or a series of processes whose initial and final states are identical.

A point function is a quantity whose value at any state is independent of the path or process used
to reach that state. Examples: pressure, temperature, specific volume, entropy, enthalpy

A path (or process) function is a quantity whose value depends on the path followed during a
particular change in state. Examples: work and heat

Potential Energy
𝑃𝐸 = 𝑊𝑧 = 𝑚𝑔𝑧 [𝑘𝐽, 𝐵𝑡𝑢]

𝑘𝐽 𝐵𝑡𝑢 𝑓𝑡 − 𝑙𝑏𝑓
= 𝑚𝑔𝑧 [ , , ]
𝑠 ℎ𝑟 𝑠
𝑘𝐽 𝐵𝑡𝑢
𝑝𝑒 = 𝑔𝑧 [ , ]
𝑘𝑔 𝑙𝑏𝑚
 Where: 𝑧 = 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 [𝑚, 𝑓𝑡]

𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 [𝑘𝑔, 𝑙𝑏𝑚 ]

𝑘𝑔 𝑙𝑏𝑚
𝑚̇ = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 [ , ]
𝑠 𝑠
𝑚 𝑓𝑡
𝑔 = 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 [ , ]
𝑠2 𝑠2

Kinetic Energy
1
𝐾𝐸 = 𝑚𝑣 2 [𝑘𝐽, 𝐵𝑡𝑢]
2

1 𝑘𝐽 𝐵𝑡𝑢 𝑓𝑡 − 𝑙𝑏𝑓
= 𝑚𝑣 2 [ , , ]
2 𝑠 ℎ𝑟 𝑠

1 𝑘𝐽 𝐵𝑡𝑢
𝑘𝑒 = 𝑣 2 [ , ]
2 𝑘𝑔 𝑙𝑏𝑚

𝑚 𝑓𝑡
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒: 𝑣 = 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 [ , ]
𝑠 𝑠