ME-131

THERMODYNAMICS-I
 Review
Last Lecture
• Properties of system
•Intensive and Extensive
•Specific
• State and Equilibrium
• State Postulate
Today’s Lecture
• Process and Path
• Process Diagram
• Steady Flow Processes
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Process and path

 PROCESS: any
change that system p State 1
undergoes from one State 2
equilibrium state to
another.
V
 PATH: series of
states through T
which a system
passes during a
process 3
 Process Diagram: P-V diagram of
compression of a gas
• Process path indicates a
series of equilibrium states
through which the system
passes during a process
and has significance for
Quasi-equilibrium
processes only.
QUASI-EQUILIBRIUM STATE and
QUASI-STATIC PROCESS
 Sufficiently slow process,
system adjusts itself
internally to cause uniform
change in properties

 Process proceeds such

that system remains
infinitesimally close to
equilibrium state at all
times
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QUASI-EQUILIBRIUM STATE and
QUASI-STATIC PROCESS
 When a gas in a piston-cylinder device is
compressed suddenly:
 Molecules near the face of the piston will not have
enough time to escape and
 Will pile up in a small region in front of the piston,
thus creating a high-pressure region.
 Due to pressure difference, the system will not be
in equilibrium, and this makes the entire process
non quasi-equilibrium.
 If the piston is moved slowly:
 molecules will have sufficient time to redistribute –
no molecule pileup in front of the piston.
 Pressure inside will be uniform and will rise at the
same rate at all locations.
 Since equilibrium is maintained at all times, this is

09/15/2023 a quasi-equilibrium process. 6

 Processes & Equilibrium States
p
S1 Process Path
What is the
state of the
system along
the process
path?
V

S2

Quasi-equilibrium process: infinitesimally close to equilibrium state at

all times – idealized – best production of work – a standard
Non Quasi-Equilibrium Process
• For non quasi-equilibrium
processes, we are not able to
characterize the entire system p State 1
by a single state State 2

• we cannot speak of a process

path for a system as a whole. V
• A non quasi-equilibrium
process is denoted by a T
dashed line between the initial
and final states instead of a
solid line. 8
Thermodynamic process
Dashed line between states – non-quasi-equilibrium
Process 1
p
State 1

State 2

Process 2 V

T
Following a different path is a different process even if
the end states are the same.
QUASI-EQUILIBRIUM STATE and
QUASI-STATIC PROCESS
 Quasi-equilibrium process is an idealized process and is not
a true representation of an actual process.
 Many actual processes closely approximate it, and can be
modeled as quasi equilibrium with negligible error.
 Engineers are interested in quasi equilibrium processes for
two reasons.
 Easy to analyze
 Work-producing devices deliver the most work when they operate
on quasi equilibrium processes.
 Quasi-equilibrium processes serve as standards to which
actual processes can be compared. 10
 Process Diagram

• Process diagrams plotted by employing

thermodynamic properties as coordinates are very
useful in visualizing the processes.

• Some common properties that are used as

coordinates are temperature T, pressure P, and
volume V (or specific volume v).

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Process Diagram

P
State 2
P2
Process Path

State 1
P1

T2 T1 T

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Prefix “Iso”
 The prefix iso- is often used to designate a
process for which a particular property
remains constant.
 Many times we will talk about process paths
where one property is kept constant
 Isothermal
 Constant Temperature
 Isobaric
 Constant Pressure
 Isochoric
 Constant Volume 13
 Thermodynamic Cycles
 A recurring series of thermodynamic processes through
which an effect is produced by transformation or
redistribution of energy
 A system is said to have undergone a cycle if it returns to
its initial state at the end of the process. That is, for a cycle
the initial and final states are identical.
 Classification:
 Open: working fluid taken in, used, & discarded
 Closed: working medium never leaves cycle, except
through leakage; medium undergoes state changes &
returns to original state
Basic Thermodynamic Cycle

HEAT SOURCE

Working
Qin
Substance
Engine W

Qout

Pump HEAT SINK

 Steady flow process
 The terms steady and uniform are used frequently in
engineering, and thus it is important to have a clear
understanding of their meanings.
 The term steady implies no change with time. The
opposite of steady is unsteady, or transient.
 The term uniform, however, implies no change with
location over a specified region.
 These meanings are consistent with their everyday
use (Steady Girlfriend!, Uniform properties, etc.).
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 Steady flow process
• Non-uniform but steady
• During a steady-flow process,
fluid properties within the
control volume may change
with position but not with time.
 A large number of engineering devices
operate for long periods of time under the
same conditions, and they are classified as
steady-flow devices.
 Represented reasonably well by a
somewhat idealized process, called the
steady-flow process
 A process during which a fluid flows
through a control volume steadily
 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. 17
Steady flow process

The volume V, the mass m, and the total

energy content E of the control volume
remain constant during a steady flow
process
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 Steady flow process
 Steady-flow conditions can be closely approximated by
continuous operation devices such as
 turbines, pumps, boilers, condensers, and heat exchangers
or power plants or refrigeration systems.
 Some cyclic devices, such as reciprocating engines or
compressors, do not satisfy any of the conditions stated
above since the flow at the inlets and the exits will be
pulsating and not steady.
 However, the fluid properties vary with time in a periodic
manner, and the flow through these devices can still be
analyzed as a steady-flow process by using time-averaged
values for the properties.
Next Class

Temperature and
Zeroth Law of
thermodynamics

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Questions?

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