436-409 Advanced Thermodynamics

Credit Points:

Coordinator:

Prerequisite/s:

Timetable:

Contact:

Objectives:

Upon completion, students should be able to analyse and design a range of energy processes or utilisation equipment and to appreciate the directions in which the technology will evolve for improved performance and/or operating economics.

Content:

Selected from:

• Steam turbines, boiler design and control characteristics. Cycle optimisation. Economics of plant operation.

• Gas turbines. Cycle performance. Stationary and aircraft gas turbines. Working fluids in open and closed cycles. Component matching and off-design operation.

• Engines. Ideal air and fuel-air cycles. Effect of fuel composition, dissociation and heat transfer on efficiency. Characteristics of spark ignition and diesel engines. Advanced engine simulation. Abnormal combustion.

• Solar Energy. Absorptivity and transmissivity, selective surfaces and surface treatment. Thermal performance of collectors. Cost analyses.

• Unsteady gas dynamics. Isentropic and non-isentropic wave propagation. One-dimensional unsteady compressible flow. Pressure exchangers and exhaust systems.

• Generalised thermodynamic property relations. Maxwell's equations, Gibbs free energy and fugacity. Estimation of plant performance using rare working fluids.

• Turbocharging. Compressor and turbine characteristics. Turbine performance. Turbo-charger/engine matching.

Assessment: