Advances In The Modelling Of Thermodynamic Systems

Thermodynamics is a common field of study involving many different specialties including physics, chemistry, geology, and cosmology. Thermodynamics is incredibly useful for manmade industrial processes related to material studies, renewable energy, and more. It is essential for professionals to stay current with the developments in thermodynamic systems, as thermodynamics proves vital for understanding natural macroprocesses related to geology, areology, and cosmology. Advances in the Modelling of Thermodynamic Systems discusses the recent advances in modeling of thermodynamic systems as well as the state-of-the-art manmade industrial processes and natural processes taking place on Earth and beyond. It reveals an interdisciplinary vision of thermodynamics from the minuscule to the immense. Covering topics such as entropy generation, linear modeling, and statistical analysis, this premier reference source is an essential resource for engineers, chemists, physicists, mechanics, geologists, cosmologists, students and educators of higher education, libraries, researchers, and academicians.

This book presents the diverse and rapidly expanding field of Entropy Generation Minimization (EGM), the method of thermodynamic optimization of real devices. The underlying principles of the EGM method - also referred to as "thermodynamic optimization," "thermodynamic design," and "finite time thermodynamics" - are thoroughly discussed, and the method's applications to real devices are clearly illustrated. The EGM field has experienced tremendous growth during the 1980s and 1990s. This book places EGM's growth in perspective by reviewing both sides of the field - engineering and physics. Special emphasis is given to chronology and to the relationship between the more recent work and the pioneering work that outlined the method and the field. Entropy Generation Minimization combines the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics. EGM applies these principles to the modeling and optimization of real systems and processes that are characterized by finite size and finite time constraints, and are limited by heat and mass transfer and fluid flow irreversibilities. Entropy Generation Minimization provides a straightforward presentation of the principles of the EGM method, and features examples that elucidate concepts and identify recent EGM advances in engineering and physics. Modern advances include the optimization of storage by melting and solidification; heat exchanger design; power from hot-dry-rock deposits; the on & off operation of defrosting refrigerators and power plants with fouled heat exchangers; the production of ice and other solids; the maximization of power output in simple power plant models with heat transfer irreversibilities; the minimization of refrigerator power input in simple models; and the optimal collection and use of solar energy.

This multiauthored volume sketches the applications of nonequilibrium thermodynamics to complex systems. These are characterized by an involved form of the Gibbs equation and include systems such as solutions of macromolecules, magnetic hysteresis bodies, viscoelastic fluids, polarizable media, fluids under stresses and in the presence of essential nonstationarities, and high temperature gradients. As a rule, the so- called internal variables and/or dissipative fluxes are essential in the thermodynamic description of such systems.

Students, academics and researchers will find this book an invaluable contribution to the understanding of thermodynamics. In this new treatment of the subject, the authors focus on the principles of thermodynamic variables and the practical simulation of thermodynamic systems, and endeavor to show how simple thermodynamics really is. It offers a unique view of modern complex systems engineering and its ramifications.

Over 170 years ago, Sadi Carnot, a French engineer, published his famous article "Reflections on the motive power of fire" and established a new field of science: classical thermodynamics. Since 1985, the scholars in the Naval University of Engineering (from 1949 to 1998) have been making the research work in the field of finite time thermodynamics. This multi-authored book deals with the recent advances of finite time thermodynamics in the Naval University of Engineering. It illustrates how the gap between thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics is bridged. It also illustrates how the gap between physics and engineering is bridged. The readers should find the papers informative and useful for analysis and design of thermodynamic systems with improved performance. The authors hope that this collection of work devoted to finite thermodynamics will provide encouragement for further research in the field.

Thermodynamics is a branch of physics concerned with heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work. It defines macroscopic variables, such as internal energy, entropy, and pressure, that partly describe a body of matter or radiation. It states that the behavior of these variables is subject to general constraints that are common to all materials, not to the peculiar properties of particular materials. These general constraints are expressed in the three laws of thermodynamics which had a deep influence on the development of physics and chemistry. The book aims to present novel ideas that are crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries and introducing a wide spectrum of viewpoints and approaches in applied thermodynamics of the third millennium. The book will be of interest to those working in the fields of propulsion systems, power generation systems, chemical industry, quantum systems, refrigeration, fluid flow, combustion, and other phenomena.

Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics, Second Edition is a five-chapter text that covers some basic thermodynamic concepts, including thermodynamic system equilibrium, thermodynamic properties, and thermodynamic application to special systems. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of equilibrium, maximum work of thermodynamic systems, development of Gibbs and Helmholtz functions, thermodynamic system equilibrium, and conditions for stability and spontaneous change. Chapter 2 deals with the general thermodynamic relations for systems of constant chemical composition; the development of Maxwell relations; the derivatives of specific heats; coefficients of h, p, T, Clausius-Clapeyron equations; the Joule-Thomson effect; and application of van der Waals gas-inversion curves to liquefaction system. Chapters 3 and 4 describe the thermodynamics of ideal gases, ideal gas mixtures, and gas mixtures with variable composition. These chapters also discuss processes involving dissociation-Lighthill ideal dissociating gas, extension to ionization and real gas effects, and characteristics of "frozen" and equilibrium flows. Chapter 5 surveys the thermodynamics of elastic systems, surface tension, magnetic systems, reversible electrical cell, and fuel cell. This chapter also provides an introduction to irreversible thermodynamics, Onsager reciprocal relation, and the concept of thermoelectricity. This book will prove useful to undergraduate mechanical engineering students and other engineering students taking courses in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics.

The field of high-temperature superconductivity has encouraged an inter disciplinary approach to research. It has required significant cooperation and collaboration among researchers, each of whom has brought to it a rich variety of experience from many other fields. Recently, great improvements have been made in the quality of research. The subject has matured and been launched into the next stage through the resonance between science and technology. The current progress of materials processing and engineering in this field is analogous to that previously seen in the development of semiconductors. These include the appearance of materials taking the place of YBa2Cu307 owing to their improved properties (higher critical temperatures and stronger flux pin ning) in which rare earth ions with large radii (La, Nd, Sm) substitute for Y; the development of technology enabling growth control on the nanometer scale; and precise and reproducible measurements that can be used as rigorous tests of theoretical models, which in turn are expected to lead to the develop ment of new devices. For further progress in high-T research, academics and c technologists must pool their knowledge and experience. I hope that this volume will promote that goal by providing the reader with the latest results of high-temperature superconductor research and will stimulate further discussion and collaboration.