[All Rights Reserved]

SLIATE SRI LANKA INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATION

(Established in the Ministry of Higher Education, vide in Act No. 29 of 1995)

Higher National Diploma in Engineering (Civil / Mechanical)

Higher National Diploma in Building Services Engineering
First Year, Second Semester Examination – 2014
ME 1206 – Fundamentals of Thermodynamics
Instructions for Candidates: No. of questions : 06
Answer any five questions. No. of pages : 05
All questions carry equal marks. Time : 03 hours
Steam property tables are provided.

Q1)
a) State the first law of thermodynamics. (6 marks)
b) Explain the following terms
i. Compressed liquid
ii. Saturation Pressure (8 marks)
c) What is an adiabatic process? (6 marks)

[Total 20 marks]

Q2)

a) 1 kg of steam at 8 bar, entropy 6.55 kJ/kg K, is heated reversibly at constant pressure until
the temperature is 200°C. Calculate the heat supplied.

(10 marks)

b) The food compartment of a refrigerator is maintained at 4°C by removing heat from it at a

rate of 360kJ/min. If the required power input to the refrigerator is 2kW, determine
i. Coefficient of Performance, COPR
ii. Rate of heat rejection to the room that houses the refrigerator. (10 marks)

[Total 20 marks]
Q3)

a) Write down the general energy equation for steady flow system and simplify when applied
for gas turbine (with considerable velocity changes). Clearly state all assumptions.
(10 marks)
b) In a gas turbine unit the gases flow through the turbine is 17 kg/s and the power developed by
the turbine is 14000 kW. The specific enthalpies of the gases at inlet and outlet are 1200 kJ/kg
and 360 kJ/kg respectively, and the velocities of the gases at inlet and outlet are 60 m/s and
150 m/s respectively.
(i) Calculate the rate of heat loss from the turbine.
(ii) Find the area of the inlet pipe given that the specific volume of the gases at inlet is 0.5
m3/kg.

(10 marks)

[Total 20 marks]

Q4)

The internal energy of a certain substance is given by the following equation:

𝑢 = 𝑝𝑣 + 84

where u is given in 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔, p is in 𝑘𝑃𝑎 and 𝑣 in 𝑚3 /𝑘𝑔.

A closed system composed of 3𝑘𝑔 of this substance expands from an initial pressure of
500𝑘𝑃𝑎 and a volume of 0.22𝑚3 to a final pressure of 100𝑘𝑃𝑎 in a process:

𝑝𝑣 1.2 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡

a) If the expansion is quasi static (reversible), find;

(i) Work done,
(ii) Change in internal energy,
(iii) Heat transfer during the process. (10 marks)

2
HNDE (Civil/Mechanical/BSE )- Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 1st Year 2014
 b) In another process the same system expands according to the same pressure volume
relationship and from the same initial state to the same final state but the heat transfer in
this case is 30𝑘𝐽. Find the work transfer for this process.

(6 marks)

c) Explain the difference in work transfer in parts (a) and (b). (4 marks)
[Total 20 marks]

Q5)

A gas undergoes a thermodynamic cycle C-B-A-C consisting of three processes:

Process C–B: constant volume, 𝑉 = 0.028 𝑚3 , 𝑈𝐵 − 𝑈𝐶 = 26.4 𝑘𝐽

Process B–A: expansion with 𝑝𝑉 = 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡, 𝑈𝐴 = 𝑈𝐵

Process A–C: constant pressure, 𝑝 = 1.5 𝑏𝑎𝑟, 𝑊𝐴𝐶 = −10.5 𝑘𝐽

There are no significant changes in kinetic or potential energy.

a) Sketch the cycle on a p–V diagram. (3 marks)

b) Find the volume of gas at state A (3 marks)
c) Calculate work done during the process B-A (4 marks)
d) Calculate the network for the cycle (4 marks)
e) Calculate the heat transfer for process B–A (3 marks)
f) Calculate the heat transfer for process A–C (3 marks)

[Total 20 marks]

Q6)

A gas contained within a piston–cylinder assembly is shown in Fig.Q6. Initially, the piston face
is at 𝑥 = 0, and the spring exerts no force on the piston. As a result of heat transfer, gas expands,
raising the piston until it hits the stops. At this point the piston face is located at 𝑥 = 0.05 𝑚,
and the heat transfer ends.

The force exerted by the spring on the piston as the gas expands varies linearly with x according
to 𝐹𝑆𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 𝑘𝑥

3
HNDE (Civil/Mechanical/BSE )- Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 1st Year 2014
 where 𝑘 = 10 𝑘𝑁/𝑚. Kinematic and potential effects and Friction between the piston and the
cylinder wall are neglected. The acceleration of gravity is 𝑔 = 9.81 𝑚/𝑠 2 . 𝑃𝑎𝑡𝑚 =
1𝑏𝑎𝑟. The piston has a mass of 10 kg and a cross-sectional area of 0.0078 m2.

Fig.Q6.

a) What is the initial pressure of gas? (8 marks)

b) Determine the work done by air on the piston. (8 marks)
c) If the specific internal energies of air at the initial and final states are 247kJ/kg and 335
kJ/kg, respectively, calculate the heat transfer. (4 marks)

[Total 20 marks]

4
HNDE (Civil/Mechanical/BSE )- Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 1st Year 2014
 5
HNDE (Civil/Mechanical/BSE )- Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, 1st Year 2014