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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
B.ENG.(HONS.) IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
YEAR I SEMESTER II
MAY/JUNE 09 SESSION OF EXAMINATIONS



MEC 1405 Thermodynamics I 23
rd
June 2009


0915 1215 hours


This paper contains SIX questions. You are to attempt FIVE.



Stationery: Use of calculators is allowed
Psychrometric Chart to be available
Steam Tables



1. (a) Write down the non-flow and flow energy equations.
(4 marks)

(b) A steam turbine receives a steam flow of 1.35 kg/s and the power output is
500 kW. The heat loss from the casing is negligible.

Calculate:
(i) the change of specific enthalpy across the turbine when the velocities at
entrance and exit and the difference in elevation are negligible;

(ii) the change of specific enthalpy across the turbine when the velocity at
entrance is 60m/s, the velocity at the exit is 360m/s and the inlet pipe is
10m above the exhaust pipe.

If the steam inlet conditions are 50 bar and 500
o
C, what is its specific enthalpy at the
inlet. Hence calculate the specific enthalpy at the exit for conditions (i) and (ii)
above.

(16 marks)





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2. (a) A bicycle pump which has a stroke of 20 cm is used to force air into a tyre
against a pressure of 4 bar. What length of stroke will be swept through before
air begins to enter the tyre when the piston is pushed in i) slowly and (ii)
quickly? Assume that the atmospheric pressure is 1 bar.

(10 marks)


(b) A closed system receives 168.7 kJ of heat at constant volume. It then rejects
177 kJ of heat while 40 kJ of work is done on it at constant pressure. If an
adiabatic process can be found which will restore it to its initial state, how much
work will be done by the system during that process? If the value of internal
energy in the initial state is arbitrarily put equal to zero find the internal energies
at the other two states. Draw the cycle on a p-v diagram.
(10 marks)


3. A mass of 2 kg of steam is initially at a pressure of 3 bar. The initial dryness fraction
is such that when the steam has been heated at constant volume to 4 bar it is saturated.
After this heating process the steam is compressed isentropically to 10 bar.

Find the initial dryness fraction, the final temperature and the heat and work transfers
for the processes. Sketch the processes o a T-s and p-v diagrams.

(20 marks)



4. (a) Show that for a polytropic process the change of entropy between two states for
an ideal gas is given by:

=
2
1
1
2
1 2
ln ln
p
p
R
T
T
c s s
p


(8 marks)

(b) Two vessels, one exactly twice the volume of the other, are connected by a
valve and immersed in a constant temperature bath of water. The smaller vessel
contains hydrogen (molar mass 2 kg/kmol), and the other is completely
evacuated. Calculate the change of entropy per kilogram of gas when the valve
is opened and conditions are allowed to settle. Sketch the process on T-s and
p-v diagrams. Assume hydrogen to be a perfect gas.

(12marks)





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5. (a) Show that:
i
v
i
v
c
m
m
c

= and
i
p
i
p
c
m
m
c

= .

(6 marks)


(b) A vessel of 4 m
3
capacity contains a mixture of nitrogen (N
2
, molar mass 28
kg/kmol) and carbon dioxide (CO
2
, molar mass 44 kg/kmol), the analysis by
volume showing equal quantities of each. The temperature of the mixture is
20
o
C and the total pressure is 5bar. Determine the mass of each constituent.

(9 marks)

(c) By referring to the psychrometric chart provided, what is the enthalpy, specific
volume and percentage saturation of air with a dry bulb temperature of 30
o
C
and wet bulb temperature of 20
o
C. Mark this point clearly on the chart. If the
air is cooled to 25
o
C dry bulb and 50 percent saturation what is the associated
enthalpy drop.
(5 marks)

6. In a mixture of methane (CH
4
) and air there are three volumes of oxygen to one
volume of methane. From initial conditions of 1 bar and 95
o
C the gas is compressed
reversibly and adiabatically through a volume ratio of 5. Assuming that air contains
only oxygen and nitrogen, and referring to table of values at the end of this exam
paper, calculate:

(a) the values of c
p
, c
v
, R and for the mixture;

(b) the final pressure and temperature of the mixture

(c) the work input per unit mass of mixture
(20 marks)



Additional information
( )
1
) (
1
1 2 1 1 2 2

=
n
T T R
n
v p v p
W where W is specific work, p is pressure and v specific
volume, n is the polytropic index, R is the specific gas constant and T is the temperature.
Subscripts 1 and 2 refer to the states.





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