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UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
B.ENG. (HONS.) COURSE
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STREAM
YEAR I SEMESTER II
MAY/JUNE 2012 SESSION OF EXAMINATIONS


MEC 1405 Thermodynamics I 19
th
June 2012

0915 1215 hours



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


Stationery: Use of calculators is allowed
Steam Tables



1. (a) Write down the Steady Flow Energy Equation.
(2 marks)

(b) Write down the energy equation for a non-flow process.
(2 marks)


(c) 1.5 m
3
of gas at 7.5 bar expands reversibly in a cylinder behind a piston according to
the law pV
1.3
= constant until the volume is 2.4 m
3
. Calculate the work done by the
gas and sketch the process on a p-V diagram.
(8 marks)


(d) A turbine operating under steady-flow conditions receives steam at the following
conditions: Pressure = 15 bar, specific volume = 0.1324 m
3
/kg, specific internal
energy = 2597 kJ/kg, velocity = 30 m/s. The state of the steam leaving the turbine is
as follows: Pressure = 0.4 bar, specific volume = 3.992 m
3
/kg, specific internal
energy = 2476 kJ/kg, velocity = 90 m/s. Heat is rejected to the surroundings at the
rate of 0.32 kW and the rate of steam flow through the turbine is 0.55 kg/s. Calculate
the power developed by the turbine.
(8 marks)


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2. (a) When a certain perfect gas is heated at constant pressure from 20 C to 125 C, the
heat required is 265 kJ/kg. When the same gas is heated at constant volume between
the same temperatures, the heat required is 210.5 kJ/kg.
Calculate c
p
, c
v
, , R and the molar mass of the gas.
(10 marks)

(b) A rigid vessel of volume 1.5 m
3
contains 9.927 kg of steam at 20 bar.
(i) What is the specific volume of the steam?
(ii) What is the temperature of the steam?
(iii) If the vessel is cooled, at what temperature will the steam became dry
saturated?
(iv) Cooling is continued until the pressure in the vessel is 10 bar; calculate the final
dryness fraction of the steam, and
(v) the heat rejected between the initial and final states.
(10 marks)




3. (a) The pressure and temperature of the air inside a diesel engine at the beginning of the
compression stroke are 1 bar and 20 C respectively. In order to ignite the fuel charge
injected at the end of the compression stroke, the temperature of the air must be 735
C. Assuming that the compression stroke is an adiabatic process, calculate the
compression ratio of the engine, i.e. the ratio of the initial to the final volume, and the
pressure at the end of the compression stroke. Take for air as 1.4.
(10 marks)

(b) Oxygen is stored in a rigid cylinder of 0.1m
3
. Initially the gas is at a temperature of
15 C and a pressure of 100 bar.
(i) Calculate the mass of oxygen in the cylinder.
(ii) Calculate the pressure in the cylinder after that half the gas has been consumed,
assuming that the temperature remains the same.
(iii) What would the final pressure be if during the issue of the oxygen from the
cylinder to half its original mass, the expansion of the remaining gas takes place
adiabatically. Take for oxygen as 1.4 and the specific gas constant R for
oxygen as 260 J/kg K.
(10 marks)











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4. (a) Steam expands through a turbine. The flow is steady at the rate of 3 kg/s. Inlet
conditions of the steam are: pressure = 45 bar, temperature = 450 C, velocity is
negligible. Exit conditions are: steam pressure = 0.2 bar, dryness fraction = 0.93,
duct cross-sectional area = 0.14 m
2
, velocity = high. If the mechanical efficiency of
the turbine is 90 %, and heat losses from the turbine are negligible, calculate
(i) the power output of the turbine and
(ii) the change of specific entropy.
(10 marks)

(b) Gases enter a gas turbine at 600 C , 8 bar and leave at 1 bar. The process is adiabatic,
but the entropy changes by 0.18 kJ/kg K.

Assuming the gases to act as a perfect gas,
(i) calculate the exit temperature of the gases, and
(ii) sketch the process on a T-s diagram. Take = 1.25 and c
p
= 1.11 kJ/kg K.

(10 marks)


5. (a) Mention the four processes that make up the Carnot cycle, and sketch it on T-s and
p-V diagrams.
(4 marks)

(b) Show that the efficiency of the Carnot cycle operating between high temperature
T
H
and low temperature T
L
is given by:



(4 marks)

(c) Two reversible heat engines, both operating on the Carnot cycle, operate in series
between a source at 630 C and a sink at 15 C. The efficiency of the engines is the
same. The first engine is rejecting 400 kJ of heat to the second engine.

Calculate:
(i) the temperature at which heat is supplied from the first to the second engine;
(ii) the heat taken from the source;
(iii) the work done by each engine.
(12 marks)






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6. Two very well lagged vessels are connected by a pipe in which there is a valve. One
vessel of 0.4 m
3
contains air at 7 bar and 37 C and the other of 0.05 m
3
contains oxygen
at 25 bar and 17 C. The valve is opened and the two gases are allowed to mix.
Calculate:
(i) The final temperature of the mixture
(ii) The final pressure of the mixture
(iii) The partial pressure of the air and the oxygen
(iv) The volumetric analysis of the mixture
(v) The values of c
p
, c
v
, R and for the mixture
Assume that air consists only of 21 % oxygen and 79 % nitrogen by volume.
(20 marks)


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ADDI TI ONAL I NFORMATI ON:

For a polytropic process:


Universal gas constant = 8.3143 kJ/kmol K.

Oxygen Nitrogen
molecular mass 32 28
molar heat capacity at constant volume in kJ/kmol K 21.068 20.819
Specific heat at constant pressure in kJ/kg K 0.9182 1.04
Specific heat at constant volume in kJ/kg K 0.6584 0.7432



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