MECH 240: Thermodynamics I Assignment 2 Winter 2020

Due date: 11:59 PM April 14, 2020

Instructions: Open book. Group study is encouraged, but the solutions submitted MUST BE YOUR OWN
WORK. Please show your work steps. State your assumptions and justify your equations. Partial credit
will be awarded on careful and clear arguments. Wrong unsupported numerical answers can only receive
zero credit. Please upload your solutions in the designated Assignment 2 folder in myCourses.

Problem 1 (14 points): Conceptual questions

For each example described below, please indicate if (a) the process is irreversible, internally reversible, externally
reversible, or totally reversible, and (b) identify at least one source or irreversibility within the system (if there are
none, indicate “none ). Clearly state your assumptions where needed.
i. (2 points) A blacksmith puts a hot iron horseshoe into a large bucket of cold water. The process starts
when the horseshoe touches the water, and ends when thermal equilibrium is reached. Take the horseshoe
Text
as your system.
ii. (2 points) A pendulum oscillates in a vacuum with a period T. Take the pendulum as your system.
iii. (2 points) A well-insulated bottle of compressed gas is depressurized by discharging the gas to the
atmosphere, very slowly through a valve. Take the system to be the bottle and its gas contents (but not the
valve) at any given instant throughout the process.
iv. (2 points) A small model of a new unmanned aerial vehicle is rigidly attached to a stand and exposed to a
flow of air in the McGill wind tunnel, to investigate its aerodynamics. The initial state is when there is no
air flow in the wind tunnel, and the final state is when there is full air flow in the wind tunnel. Take the
model as the system.

Now consider the spherical blast explosion shown in the figure below. We define the system to be the initial
explosive material and its subsequent products. There is no mass transfer across the system boundary throughout
this problem. To simplify the analysis, we divide the overall explosion process into three steps. Assume that the
temperature and pressure inside our system are always spatially uniform (but of course change in time).

v. (2 points) Step I (0 1): Initially, the system is at ambient temperature (T0) and pressure (P0). The
chemical reactions taking place within the system convert some explosive material into high-temperature,
high-pressure gas products.
vi. (2 points) Step II (1 2): The system expands very rapidly until its pressure is equilibrated with the ambient
pressure P0.
vii. (2 points) Step III (2 3): The system comes to thermal equilibrium with the environment while the
pressure remains constant and equal to P0.

Spherical blast
wave. Image capture
by Prof. Tétreault-
Friend during her
summer SURE
project working for
Prof. Frost many
years ago.

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MECH 240: Thermodynamics I Assignment 2 Winter 2020
Problem 2 (15 points): Space vehicle cooling
A convenient and very effective means of space vehicle or satellite cooling is by thermal radiation to the depths of
space, which is used as a heat reservoir with an extremely low temperature, namely 0 K. For this situation, the rate
at which a body radiates to this heat reservoir (𝑄𝑅 ) is proportional to the surface area of the radiator (𝐴𝑅 ) and the
fourth power of its thermodynamic temperature (𝑇𝑅 ), i.e.

𝑄𝑅 ~𝐴𝑅 𝑇𝑅4
However, in order to minimize the mass of a space vehicle or satellite, it is necessary to minimize the area of the
radiator since its mass (𝑚𝑅 ) is directly proportional to its surface area, such that

𝑚𝑅 ~𝐴𝑅 .

Suppose that a space vehicle or satellite contains a reversible Carnot engine which experiences a positive heat
transfer 𝑄 (not fixed) from an energy source (“hot heat reservoir) whose temperature is fixed at 𝑇 . This engine
delivers a fixed amount of power 𝑊 and ultimately uses the depths of space as an energy sink (“cold heat
reservoir).

a) Show that for fixed 𝑊 and 𝑇 , three local minima and/or maxima of the radiator mass exist for this
system when the temperature of the radiator is such that

(i) 𝑇𝑅 0.75𝑇 (ii) 𝑇𝑅 → +∞ (iii) 𝑇𝑅 → −∞

b) Show that 𝑇𝑅 0.75𝑇 corresponds to the absolute minimum of the radiator mass by plotting 𝑚𝑅 (or 𝐴𝑅 )
versus 𝑇𝑅 .

Hints: You may wish to find the roots of the first derivative of a given continuous function in order to find its local
minima and maxima, i.e. 𝑓 𝑥 0. You can then determine graphically which root is the global minimum.

Radiatiors on International Space Station

(Image source: https://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-
21/html/s129e009243.html)
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MECH 240: Thermodynamics I Assignment 2 Winter 2020
Problem 3 (16 points): Speed boat
An attempt is to be made to establish a new world record speed for a boat. The current world record speed is
317.60 mph (141.98 m/s). The attempt is to set the new record at a speed of 145 m/s on a day when the ambient air
temperature is 𝑇 𝑚 295 𝐾. The boat design calls for a hydroplane design to be powered by the thrust from the
exhaust nozzle of a jet engine. The nozzle is designed to operate with an inlet temperature of 𝑇 591.849 𝐾
and an inlet pressure of 𝑃 1.918 × 105 𝑁⁄𝑚2. The gas expands through the nozzle in a reversible, adiabatic
manner with an exit pressure of 𝑃 𝑥 𝑃 𝑚 1.0135 × 105 𝑁⁄𝑚2 . The diameter of the nozzle in the exit plane
is 𝐷 0.506 𝑚. The working fluid can be modeled as an ideal gas with 𝑅 287 −𝐾
and 𝑐 1003 −𝐾
.
As the propulsion engineer, you are required to specify for the hull designer the maximum allowable drag force at
this record speed.
a) (4 points) What is the velocity of the exhaust jet relative to the boat, assuming the kinetic energy of the
gas at the inlet of the nozzle is negligible?
b) (3 points) What is the mass flow rate of air through the engine?
c) (3 points) What is the maximum allowable drag force at this world record speed of 145 m/s?
d) (3 points) What is the propulsive power developed by the boat s engine at this speed?
e) (3 points) If the boat fuel has a heating value of and the propulsive efficiency is 25%, what is the rate of
fuel consumption?

Speed boat for Problem 3

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MECH 240: Thermodynamics I Assignment 2 Winter 2020
Problem 4 (25 points): Vortex tube refrigeration
A vortex tube, also known as a Hilsch tube, is a rigid-walled device which employs a vortex flow to separate a
high-pressure stream of gas into two low-pressure streams at different temperatures as shown in the figure below.
With no moving parts, no electricity, and no refrigerant, a vortex tube can produce refrigeration up to
6,000 BTU/h (1,800 W) using only filtered compressed air. Despite its low efficiency, the vortex tube has found
application in small-scale spot cooling operations such as cooling of soldered parts or electronic components.
You are to analyse a vortex refrigeration system to evaluate its performance. Air is initially compressed from
ambient conditions by a water-cooled compressor with an isothermal efficiency of 60% (efficiency with respect to
a reversible isothermal compressor) and delivered to the inlet of a vortex tube. The operating parameters are as
shown in the figure below. The walls of the Hilsch tube are adiabatic and changes in kinetic and potential energies
are negligible.

a) (8 points) Find the power 𝑊𝑐 𝑚 delivered to the compressor.

b) (4 points) Calculate the temperature at the inlet of the Hilsch tube.
c) (4 points) Calculate the cold stream temperature of the Hilsch tube.
d) (4 points) Show, with calculations, that the Hilsch tube does not violate the second law of thermodynamics
(hint: use the suggested control volume in the figure for your analysis).
e) (3 points) Calculate the rate of refrigeration 𝑄𝑐 of the vortex tube if 𝑄 , 𝑥 𝑚2 𝑐 𝑇 𝑚 − 𝑇2 ,
where 𝑚2 is the mass flow rate of the cold stream and 𝑇 𝑚 − 𝑇2 is the temperature drop of the gas in the
vortex tube from ambient conditions (cooling effect).
f) (2 points) Calculate the coefficient of performance (COP) of this refrigeration system and compare it to the
COP of a Carnot refrigerator operating between the same (hot) ambient temperature and cold outlet
temperature.
Useful properties: Water (incompressible): 𝑐 4187
−𝐾
The gas is air: 𝑅 287 −𝐾
,𝑐 716 −𝐾

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MECH 240: Thermodynamics I Assignment 2 Winter 2020
Problem 5 (30 points): High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) cogeneration plant
A High-Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) is being considered for cogeneration of electricity and heat for
residential heating. This HTGR uses the direct Brayton cycle shown in the figure below, which comprises a
turbine, a regenerator, a cogeneration heat exchanger (3 4) and a compressor. The cogeneration heat exchanger
is used to generate steam, which is then sent to the residential area served by the plant. The helium temperature
and pressure at the turbine inlet are 1000 K and 9 MPa, respectively. The minimum temperature in the cycle is
373 K. The cycle operates with a pressure ratio equal to 2. The isentropic efficiency for the turbo-machines
(turbine and compressor) is 0.9. Assume negligible pressure losses throughout the cycle and constant specific
heats.

Schematic of the nuclear cogeneration plant for Problem 5.

a) (3 points) Sketch the 𝑇 − 𝑠 diagram for the cycle.

b) (20 points) An important parameter to select is the cogeneration temperature 𝑇3 . If 𝑇3 is too high,
regeneration is minimal and the cycle thermal efficiency becomes too low. If 𝑇3 is too low, the amount of
heat delivered to the residential heating system may be too low. Find the value of 𝑇3 that will give a cycle
thermal efficiency equal to 30%.
c) (2 points) What is the energy utilization factor (EUF) of this cycle? The EUF is defined as the ratio of the
energy utilized (net work + cogeneration heat) to the heat input (reactor heat).
d) (5 points) What is the reactor thermal power if this plant is to produce 𝑄 241 𝑀𝑊 of heat for
residential heating?
e) (Bonus: 5 points) Nuclear cogeneration for residential heating has been rarely done. What are in your
opinion the drawbacks of this approach?
Useful properties
Helium: Treat as an ideal gas with:
o 𝑐 5193 −𝐾, 𝑅 2077 −𝐾
,𝛾 1.667

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