Bahir Dar University

Bahir Dar Institute of Technology

Engineering Thermodynamics (Meng 3081)

For Industrial Engineering

Chapter 2: Introductory Concepts &

Definitions
Outlines
• Thermodynamics and its Applications
• Dimensions and Units
• Basic terminologies: system, property, state, process
• Temperature and the Zeroth law of thermodynamics
• Pressure
Thermodynamics and Energy
 Thermodynamics can be defined as the science of energy and its
transformations, including power generation, refrigeration, and
relationships among the properties of matter.
 What is energy? Energy can be viewed as the ability to cause changes.
The change might be; position, velocity, phase, temperature, and other
properties.
Four laws of thermodynamics:
 Zeroth law: Thermal equilibrium (like transitive property)
 First law: Conservation of energy
 Second law: Energy has both quantity and quality
 Third law: Entropy of pure substances is zero at absolute zero
temperature
Approaches of thermodynamics: two approaches
 Statistical approach: is an elaborative approach, based on the
average behavior of large groups of individual particles.
 Classical approach: is macroscopic approach to the study of
thermodynamics that does not require a knowledge of the
behavior of individual particles.
Application areas of thermodynamics: very vast as all activities
in nature involve some interaction between energy and matter.
• The human body
Dimensions and units: Dimensions are used for characterizing
any physical quantity and magnitudes assigned to the dimensions
are called units.

Fundamental (Basic) and derived

(Secondary) dimensions

Two unit systems: SI and English system

Systems and control volumes: system is 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 boundary could be fixed or movable.
Based on whether we chose a fixed mass or a fixed volume in
space for study, there are two types of systems;
 Closed system (control mass): consists of a fixed amount of
mass, and no mass can cross its boundary.
 Open system (control volume): is a properly selected region in
space with both mass and energy can cross the boundary of a
control volume.
Isolated system; E.g. Universe
Properties of a system: Any characteristic of a system is called a
property. Some familiar properties are P, T, V, m, μ, k, and λ. There
are two types of properties based on their dependence on amount of
matter.
 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. E.g. m, V, and total momentum

Extensive properties per unit mass are

called specific properties
Continuum: is an idealization to disregard the atomic nature of a
substance and view it as a continuous, homogeneous matter with
no holes. This idealization is valid as long as the size of the system
we deal with is large relative to the space between the molecules.
Otherwise, theories such as rarefied gas flow theory could be used.
State and Equilibrium: state is a set of properties that completely
describes the condition of the system. At a given state, all the
properties of a system have fixed values. If the value of even one
property changes, the state will change to a different one.
Equilibrium implies a state of balance. In an
equilibrium state there are no unbalanced potentials
(or driving forces) within the system.

Types of equilibrium: Thermal equilibrium;

Mechanical equilibrium; Chemical equilibrium;
Phase equilibrium=> Thermodynamic equilibrium
The State Postulate: The state of a simple compressible system is
completely specified by two independent, intensive properties.
E.g. T and v, T and P for single phase system
What is a simple compressible system? A system is called a
simple compressible system in the absence of external force
fields like electrical, magnetic, gravitational, motion, and surface
tension effects.
Process and Cycles
Any change that a system undergoes from one equilibrium state
to another is called a process, and the series of states through
which a system passes during a process is called the path of the
process.
 Final state In order to define a process:
process path, initial state and
final states are required.
Initial
state

• When a process proceeds in such a manner that the system remains

infinitesimally close to an equilibrium state at all times, it is called a quasi-
static, or quasi-equilibrium, process.
• A quasi-equilibrium process is an idealized process and is not a
true representation of an actual process, but many actual
processes closely approximate it with negligible error.
• Why are we interested in such process? i) easy to analyze, ii)
serve as standards to which actual processes can be compared.
Process diagrams: are used to visualize a process by plotting
thermodynamic properties (T, P, v, h, s…) as coordinates.
• A non quasi-equilibrium process is denoted by a dashed line
between the initial and final states instead of a solid line which is
a case for quasi-equilibrium process.
 Final state

path

Initial state

A non quasi-equilibrium compression

A quasi-equilibrium compression
Examples of some very known thD processes
The prefix ‘iso’ is often used to designate a process for which a
particular property remains constant.
• Isothermal process: is a process during which the temperature T
remains constant
• Isobaric process: is a process during which the pressure P
remains constant
• Isochoric (or isometric) process is a process during which the
specific volume v remains constant.
• Cycle: when system undergoes a process in which it returns to its
initial state at the end of the process (initial and final states are
identical).
The Steady-flow process: process during which a fluid flows
through a control volume steadily (no change with time). The
opposite of steady flow is unsteady, or transient flow.
• The fluid properties can change from point to point within the control volume,
but at any fixed point they remain the same during the entire process.

• The term uniform, however, implies no change with location over a specified
region.
• Some steady-flow devices: turbines, pumps, boilers, condensers, and heat
exchangers or power plants or refrigeration systems. Reciprocating engines or
compressors can be taken steady flow devices in time-averaged manner.
Temperature and The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
What is temperature? As the classic saying it is “measure of hotness
or coldness”, but is it?? What is even hotness and coldness mean?
• Take metal and wood at 200C and 1atm, which one if relatively
cold? Most definitely our senses would consider the metal is
colder.
From SLT, heat transfers from higher to lower thermal energy until
they reach thermal equilibrium (equal temperature). We can take this
and define temperature as the only measure for thermal equilibrium.
The Zeroth law of thermodynamics states that if two bodies are in
thermal equilibrium with a third body, they are also in thermal
equilibrium with each other.
• This serves as a basis for the validity of temperature
measurement. By replacing the third body with a thermometer,
the zeroth law can be restated as two bodies are in thermal
equilibrium if both have the same temperature reading even if
they are not in contact.

Reading Ass.
• Temperature scale: ITS of 27, 48, 68, 90, unit conversions
• Ice point and steam point, absolute temperature scale
• Temperature measuring methods and devices…
Pressure: is defined as a normal force exerted by a fluid per unit
area. The equivalence of pressure in solids is called normal stress.
There are different units of pressure; Pa, kPa, atm, bar, kgf/cm 2, …
• The actual pressure at a given position is called the absolute
pressure, and it is measured relative to absolute vacuum (i.e.,
absolute zero pressure). Most pressure-measuring devices,
however, are calibrated to read zero in the atmosphere which is
gage pressure (difference between the absolute pressure and the
local atmospheric pressure).
• Pressures below atmospheric pressure are called vacuum
pressures and are measured by vacuum gages that indicate the
difference between the atmospheric pressure and the absolute
pressure.
Variation of pressure with depth: It will come as no
surprise to you that pressure in a fluid at rest does
not change in the horizontal direction. Pressure in a
fluid increases with depth because more fluid rests
on deeper layers, and the effect of this “extra
weight” on a deeper layer is balanced by an
increase in pressure.
Reading Ass.
• Pressure measuring devices: manometer, bourdon tube,
barometer, …
• Pascal law of pressure and its applications