THERMO – FLUIDS

NQF LEVEL 3

OUTCOME 3 – CLOSED THERMODYNAMIC SYSTEMS

This is set at the British Edexcel National level NQF 3.

Learning Outcome 3 - On completion of this tutorial you should be able to quantify

energy transfer in closed thermodynamic systems

You should be able to explain and solve problems involving:

 Work transfer
 Heat transfer
 The first law of thermodynamics
 The change of internal energy
 The closed system energy equation
 The relationship between system constants cv, cp, γ and R

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Heat Transfer and Specific Heat Capacities

Constant Volume Heating
Constant Pressure Heating

3. Link Between cv cp and R

4. Application to Liquids and Vapour

5. Work Done by Expansion and Compression of a Gas Against a Piston

Derivation of Work Law
Work as Area under the p - V Diagram

6. Work Laws for Closed Systems

Constant Pressure
Constant Volume
Hyperbolic (Isothermal Gas Expansion)
Polytropic
Adiabatic

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1. Introduction

Closed system thermodynamic processes are the basis of many machines where the
working fluid undergoes heating, cooling, compression or expansion. Work and heat are
transferred in and out of the fluid across the boundary. These studies form the basis of
understanding machines like reciprocating engines and compressors.

2. Heat Transfer and Specific Heat Capacities

Specific Heat Capacities

The specific heat capacity of a fluid is defined in two principal ways as follows:

Constant Volume

The specific heat which relates change in specific internal energy 'u' and change in
temperature 'T' is defined as:

If the value of the specific heat capacity c v is constant over a temperature range T then
we may go from the differential form to the finite form:

Hence
u = cv ΔT J/kg

For a mass m kg the change is U = mcv T Joules

This law indicates that the internal energy of a gas is dependant only on its temperature.
This was first stated by Joule and is called Joule's Law.

Constant Pressure

The specific heat which relates change in specific enthalpy 'h' and change in temperature
'T' is defined as:

If the value of the specific heat capacity c p is constant over a temperature range T then
we may go from the differential form to the finite form

Hence
h = cpT J/kg

For a mass m kg the change is H = mcpT Joules

The reasons why the two specific heats are given the symbols c v and cp will be explained
next. They are called the Principal Specific Heats.

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Constant Volume Heating

When a fluid is heated at constant volume, the heat transfer

'Q' must be the same as the increase in internal energy of
the fluid U since no other energy is involved. It follows
that:
Q = U = mcvT Joules

The change in internal energy is the same as the heat transfer at constant volume so the
symbol cv should be remembered as applying to constant volume processes as well as
internal energy.

Constant Pressure Heating

When a fluid is heated at constant pressure, the

volume must increase against a surrounding pressure
equal and opposite to the fluid pressure p.

The force exerted on the surroundings must be

F = pA Newtons

The work done is force x distance moved hence:

Work Done = F x = pAx = p V where V is the volume change.

The heat transfer Q must be equal to the increase in internal energy plus the work done
against the external pressure. The work done has the same formula as flow energy p ΔV

Enthalpy is defined as H = U + pV

The heat transfer at constant pressure is also: Q = U + pV

Since specific heats are used to calculate heat transfers, then in this case the heat transfer
is by definition:
Q = mcpT

It follows that H = Q = mcpT

For the same temperature change T it follows that the heat transfer at constant pressure
must be larger than that at constant volume. The specific heat capacity c p is remembered
as linked to constant pressure.

3. Link Between cv cp and R.

From the above work it is apparent that: H = mcpT = U + pV

We have already defined U= mcvT

Furthermore for a gas only, pV=mRT

Hence mcpT = mcvT + mRT

Hence cp = cv + R and R = cp - cv (the difference)

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4. Application to Liquids and Vapour

Liquids are regarded as incompressible because the volume of a liquid does not change
much when heated or cooled, very little work is done against the surrounding pressure so
it follows that cv and cp are for all intents and purposes the same and usually the heat
transfer to a liquid is given as:

Q = m c T
Where c is the specific heat capacity

Vapour is defined as a gaseous substance close to the temperature at which it will

condense back into a liquid. In this state it cannot be considered as a perfect gas and great
care should be taken applying specific heats to them. We should use tables and charts to
determine the properties of vapours and this is covered in the next tutorial.

WORKED EXAMPLE No. 1

Calculate the change in enthalpy and internal energy when 3 kg of gas is heated from
20oC to 200oC. The specific heat at constant pressure is 1.2 kJ/kg K and at constant
volume is 0.8 kJ/kg K. Also determine the change in flow energy.

SOLUTION

i. Change in enthalpy.

H = mcpT = 3 x 1.2 x 180 = 648 kJ

ii. Change in internal energy.

H = mcvT = 3 x 0.8 x 180 = 432 kJ

iii. Change in flow energy

FE = H - U = 216 kJ

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No. 2

A vertical cylinder contains 2 dm 3 of air at 50oC. One end of the cylinder is closed
and the other end has a frictionless piston which may move under the action of
weights placed on it. The weight of the piston and load is 300 N. The cylinder has a
cross sectional area of 0.015 m2. The outside is at atmospheric conditions.

Determine
i. the gas pressure
ii. the gas mass
iii. the distance moved by the piston when the gas is heated to 150 oC

For air take cp= 1005 J/kg K and cv = 718 J/kg K. Atmospheric pressure = 100 kPa

SOLUTION

The pressure of the gas is constant and always just sufficient to support the piston so

p = Weight/Area + atmospheric pressure

p = 300/0.015 + 100 kPa = 20 kPa + 100 kPa = 120 kPa

T1 = 50 + 273 = 323 K V1 = 0.002 m3

R = cp - cv = 1005 - 718 = 213 J/kg K

m = pV/RT = 120 000 x 0.002/(213 x 323) = 0.00348 kg

T2 = 150 + 273 = 423 K

p1 = p2

Distance moved x = Volume change/Area

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 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 1

For air take cp = 1005 J/kg K and cv = 718 J/kg K unless otherwise stated.

1. 0.2 kg of air is heated at constant volume from 40 oC to 120oC. Calculate the heat
transfer and change in internal energy. (11.49 kJ for both)

2. 0.5 kg of air is cooled from 200oC to 80oC at a constant pressure of 5 bar. Calculate
the change in internal energy, the change in enthalpy, the heat transfer and change in
flow energy. (-43 kJ), (-60.3 kJ), (-17.3 kJ)

3. Air is heated from 20oC to 50oC at constant pressure. Using your fluid tables (pages
16 and 17) determine the average value of c p and calculate the heat transfer per kg of
air. (30.15 kJ)

4. The diagram shows a cylinder fitted with a frictionless piston. The air inside is heated
to 200oC at constant pressure causing the piston to rise. Atmospheric pressure outside
is 100 kPa. Determine :

i. the mass of air. (11.9 g)

ii. the change in internal energy. (1.537 kJ)

iii. the change in enthalpy. (2.1553 kJ)

iv. the pressure throughout. (500 kPa)

v. the change in volume. (1.22 dm3)

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5. Work Done by Expansion and Compression of a Gas against a Piston

In this section you will learn how to calculate the work done when a gas changes volume
and acts against a piston in a cylinder. It will be shown that:

When the volume of a compressible fluid changes, the pressure and temperature may also
change. The resulting pressure depends upon the final temperature. The final temperature
depends on whether the fluid is cooled or heated during the process. It is normal to show
these changes on a graph of pressure plotted against volume. (p - V graphs). A typical
graph for a compression and an expansion process is shown.

Depending on whether the fluid is heated or cooled as it is expanded or compressed, a

family of such curves is obtained as shown next. It has been discovered that these curves
follows the mathematical law

pVn = constant

Each graph has a different value of n and n is called the index of expansion or
compression.

The diagrams are called p -V graphs and they are very useful for explaining things about
the processes.

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Consider the process taking place between a single starting point (1) and different
finishing point (2). Cooling produces a lower final pressure and heating produces a higher
final pressure so lower values of n (e.g. 1) indicates cooling and higher values of n (e.g.
1.5) indicate heating. Somewhere in between there is a value of n that represents neither
heat nor cooling and this is a special case explained later.

The following derivation is not strictly needed at this level but you would do well to study
it. We will start by studying the expansion of a fluid inside a cylinder against a piston
which may do work against the surroundings.

Derivation of Work Law

A fluid may expand in two ways.

a) It may expand rapidly and uncontrollably doing no useful work. In such a case the
pressure could not be plotted against volume during the process. This is called an
Unresisted Expansion

b) It may expand moving the piston. The movement is resisted by external forces
(such as the weights on the pulley shown below) so the gas pressure changes in
order to overcome the external force and move the piston. In this case the
movement is controlled and the variation of pressure with volume may be recorded
and plotted on a p-V graph. Work is done against the surroundings. This process is
called a Resisted Expansion.

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Consider the arrangement shown below. Movement of the piston left to right raises the
weights on the pulley. Movement the other way lowers them.

Assume that there is no pressure outside. If the string holding the weight was cut, the gas
pressure would slam the piston back and the energy would be dissipated first by
acceleration of the moving parts and eventually as friction. The expansion would be
unresisted.

If the weights were gradually reduced, the gas would push the piston and raise the
remaining weights. In this way, work would be done against the surroundings (it ends up
as potential energy in the weights). The process may be repeated in many small steps,
with the change in volume each time being dV. The pressure although changing, is p at
any time.

This process is characterised by two important factors.

 The process may be reversed at any time by adding weights and the potential
energy is transferred back from the surroundings as work is done on the system.
The fluid may be returned to its original pressure, volume, temperature and
energy.

 The fluid force on one side of the piston is always exactly balanced by the
external force (in this case due to the weights) on the other side of the piston.

The expansion or compression done in this manner is said to be Reversible and Carried
Out In Equilibrium.

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Work as Area under the p - V Diagram

If the expansion is carried out in equilibrium, the force of the fluid must be equal to the
external force F. It follows that F = p A

When the piston moves a small distance dx, the work done is dW

dW = - F dx = - p A dx = - p dV.

The minus sign is because the work is leaving the system.

For an expansion from points (1) to (2) it follows that the total work done is given by

This applies to a gas expanding or compressing. We must remember at this stage that our
sign convention was that work leaving the system is negative so we expect an expansion
to give work out (negative) and a compression requires work input (positive).

The result is that for a fully resisted expansion or compression in a closed system the area
between the p – V graph and the volume axis is the work transfer and this provides a
practical way to measure work in real systems by measuring the pressure and volume in
real time.

Let’s now see how to evaluate the work for various processes and values of n.

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6. Work Laws for Closed Systems

The work laws for a closed system are obtained by solving the expression:

The solution depends upon the relationship between p and V. The formulae now derived
apply equally well to a compression process and an expansion process.

Constant Pressure

The work done is the pressure G the change in volume

Constant Volume

If V is constant then dV = 0 W = 0.

There is no work done when the volume does not change.

Hyperbolic (Isothermal Gas Expansion)

This is an expansion which follows the law pV1 = C and is Isothermal when it is a gas.
Substituting p = CV-1 the expression becomes:

Since pV = C then

In the case of gas we can substitute pV = mRT and so

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Polytropic

In this case the expansion follows the law pVn = C. The solution is as follows.

C = p1V1 or p2V2

For gas only we may substitute pV = mRT and so:

Adiabatic

Since an adiabatic case is the special case of a polytropic expansion with no heat transfer,
the derivation is identical but the symbol  is used instead of n.

For gas only we may substitute pV = mRT and so:

This is the special case of the polytropic process in which Q = 0.

Substituting for Q and U in the NFEE we find:

The Adiabatic Index is the ratio of the principal specific heats

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No. 3

Air at a pressure of 500 kPa and volume 50 cm 3 is expanded reversibly in a closed

system to 800 cm3 by the law pV1.3 = C. Calculate the following.

a. The final pressure.

b. The work done.

SOLUTION

p1 = 500 kPa V1 = 50 x 10 -6 m3 V2 = 800 x 10-6 m3

W = -47 Joules

WORKED EXAMPLE No. 4

Gas at 6 bar pressure and volume 100 cm3 is expanded reversibly in a closed system
to 2 dm3 by the law pV1.2 = C. Calculate the work done.

SOLUTION
-6 3 -3
p1 = 6 bar V1 = 100 x 10 m V2 = 2 x 10 m3

W = -135.2 Joules

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 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 2

1. 10 g of gas at 10 bar and 350oC expands reversibly in a closed system to 2 bar by

the law pV1.3 = C. Taking R = 452.5 J/kg K, calculate the following.

i. The initial volume. (0.00282 m3)

ii. The final volume. (0.00974 m3)

iii. The work done. (-2.92 kJ)

2. 20 g of gas at 20oC and 1 bar pressure is compressed to 9 bar by the law

pV1.4 = C. Taking the gas constant R = 287 J/kg K calculate the work done. (Note
that for a compression process the work will turn out to be positive if you correctly
identify the initial and final conditions). (3.67 kJ)

3. Gas at 600 kPa and 0.05 dm3 is expanded reversibly to 100 kPa by the law pV1.35 =
C. Calculate the work done. (-31.8 kJ)

4. 15 g of gas is compressed isothermally from 100 kPa and 20 oC to 1 MPa pressure. The
gas constant is 287 J/kg K. Calculate the work done. (2.9 kJ)

5. Gas at 10 bar with a volume of 80 cm3 is expanded reversibly and isothermally to 1

bar by the law pV=C. Calculate the work done. (-184.2 kJ)

6. Gas fills a cylinder fitted with a frictionless piston. The initial pressure and volume
are 40 MPa and 0.05 dm3 respectively. The gas expands reversibly and polytropically
to 0.5 MPa and 1 dm3 respectively. Calculate the index of expansion and the work
done. (1.463 and -3.24 kJ)

7. An air compressor commences compression when the cylinder contains 12 g at a

pressure is 1.01 bar and the temperature is 20 oC. The compression is completed when
the pressure is 7 bar and the temperature 90oC. (1.124 and 1944 J)

The characteristic gas constant R is 287 J/kg K. Assuming the process is reversible
and polytropic, calculate the index of compression and the work done.

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No. 5

0.2 kg of gas at 100 oC is expanded isothermally and reversibly from 1 MPa pressure
to 100 kPa. Take Cv = 718 J/kg K and R = 287 J/kg K.
Calculate

i. The work transfer.

ii. The change in internal energy.
iii. The heat transfer.

SOLUTION

The work is leaving the system so it is a negative work transfer.

Since T is constant U = 0 Q - 49.3 = 0 Q = 49.3 kJ

Note that 49.3 kJ of heat is transferred into the gas and 49.3 kJ of work is transferred
out of the gas leaving the internal energy unchanged.

WORKED EXAMPLE No. 6

Repeat worked example 5 but for an adiabatic process with  = 1.4

Calculate

SOLUTION

For an Adibatic process Q = 0

Q + W = U = -25.83 kJ
Check the answer

U =m cv T = 0.2 G718(193 - 373) = -25 848 J

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 WORKED EXAMPLE No. 7

Repeat worked example 5 but for a polytropic process with n = 1.25

Calculate

SOLUTION

U = m cv T = 0.2 G 718(235.3 - 373) = -19 773.7 J

Q = U – W

Q = -19 773.7 – (-31 605) = 11 831.3 J

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 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE No. 3

Take Cv = 718 J/kg K and R = 287 J/kg K throughout.

1. 1 dm3 of gas at 100 kPa and 20oC is compressed to 1.2 MPa reversibly by the law
pV1.2 = C. Calculate the following.

i. The final volume. (0.126 dm3)

ii. The work transfer. (257 J)
iii. The final temperature. (170oC)
iv. The mass. (1.189 g)
v. The change in internal energy. (128 J)
vi. The heat transfer. (-128 J)

2. 0.05 kg of gas at 20 bar and 1100oC is expanded reversibly to 2 bar by the law
pV1.3 =C in a closed system. Calculate the following.

i. The initial volume. (9.85 dm3)

ii. The final volume. (58 dm3)
iii. The work transfer. (-27 kJ)
iv. The change in internal energy. (-20.3 kJ)
v. The heat transfer. (6.7 kJ)

3. 0.08 kg of air at 700 kPa and 800oC is expanded adiabatically to 100 kPa in a closed
system. Taking  = 1.4 calculate the following.

i. The final temperature. (615.4 K)

ii. The work transfer. (26.3 kJ)
iii. The change in internal energy. (-26.3 J)

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This problem requires a lot of thought and might well serve as an assignment.

4. A horizontal cylinder is fitted with a frictionless piston and its movement is

restrained by a spring as shown.

a. The spring force is directly proportional to movement such that F/x = k

Show that the change in pressure is directly proportional to the change in volume
such that p/V = k/A2

b. The air is initially at a pressure and temperature of 100 kPa and 300 K respectively.
Given k = 28 800 N/m, calculate the initial volume such that when the air is heated,
the pressure – volume graph is a straight line that extends to the origin. (0.5 dm3)

c. The air is heated making the volume three times the original value. Calculate the
following.

i. The mass. (0.58 g)

ii. The final pressure. (300 kPa)
iii. The final temperature. (2700 K)
iv. The work done. (-200 kJ)
v. The change in internal energy. (917 J)
vi. The heat transfer. (1.12 kJ)

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