Important Questions

Q1 An engine cylinder has a piston of area 0.12 m3 and contains gas at a

pressure of 1.5 MPa. The gas expands according to a process which is
represented by a straight line on a pressure-volume diagram. The final
pressure is 0.15 MPa. Calculate the work done by the gas on the piston if
the stroke is 0.30 m.
(Ans. 29.7 kJ)
Q2 A single-cylinder, double-acting, reciprocating water pump has an
indicator diagram which is a rectangle 0.075 m long and 0.05 m high. The
indicator spring constant is 147 MPa per m. The pump runs at 50 rpm.
The pump cylinder diameter is 0.15 m and the piston stroke is 0.20 m.
Find the rate in kW at which the piston does work on the water.
(Ans. 43.3 kW)
Q3
Determine the total work done by a gas system following an expansion
process as shown in Figure.
(Ans. 2.253 MJ)

Q.4

A piston-cylinder device initially contains 0.07 m3 of nitrogen at 130 kPa and

120oC. The nitrogen is now expanded polytropically to a state of 100 kPa and 100oC.
Determine the boundary work done during this process.
(Ans. 179.6 KJ)

Q.5

A mass of 1.5 kg of air at 120 kPa and 24oC is contained in a gas-tight,

frictionless pistoncylinder device. The air is now compressed to a final pressure of 600
kPa. During the process, heat is transferred from the air such that the temperature
inside the cylinder remains constant. Calculate the work input during the process.
Q6
A domestic refrigerator is loaded with food and the door closed. During
a certain period the machine consumes 1 kWh of energy and the internal
energy of the system drops by 5000 kJ. Find the net heat transfer for the
system.
(Ans. 8.6 MJ)
Q7

a A system composed of 2 kg of fluid with Cv = 0.718 KJ/Kg expands in a

frictionless
piston and cylinder machine from an initial state of 1 MPa, 100C to a
final temperature of 30C. If there is no heat transfer, find the net work
for the process. If all the work in the expansion is done on the moving
piston, show that the equation representing the path of the expansion ins
the pv-plane is given by pv1.4 = constant.
(Ans. 100.52 kJ)
Q8

A stationary system consisting of 2 kg of the fluid which follow relation

u = 196 + 0.718t
pv = 0.287 (t + 273)
where u is the specific internal energy (kJ/kg), t is in C, p is pressure
(kN/m2), and v is specific volume (m3/kg). This fluid expands in an adiabatic
process according to pv1.2= constant. The initial conditions are 1 MPa and
200C, and the final pressure is 0.1 MPa. Find W and E for the process. Why is
the work transfer not equal to pdV ?
Q9
Exhaust gases leave an internal combustion engine at 800C and 1 atm,
after having done 1050 kJ of work per kg of gas in the engine (cp of gas =
1.1 kJ/kg K). The temperature of the surroundings is 30C.
(a) How much available energy per kg of gas is lost by throwing away
the exhaust gases?
(b) What is the ratio of the lost available energy to the engine work?
(Ans. (a) 425.58 kJ, (b) 0.405)
Q10 Eighty kg of water at 100C are mixed with 50 kg of water at 60C, while
the temperature of the surroundings is 15C. Determine the decrease in
available energy due to mixing.
(Ans. 236 kJ)
Q11 Ice is to be made from water supplied at 15C by the process shown in
Figure. The final temperature of the ice is 10C, and the final

temperature of the water that is used as cooling water in the condenser

is 30C. Determine the minimum work required to produce 1000 kg of ice.
Take cp for
water =
4.187 kJ/kg
K, cp for ice
= 2.093
kJ/kg K, and
latent
heat of
fusion of ice
= 334 kJ/kg.

Q12 A pressure vessel has a volume of 1 m3 and contains air at 1.4 MPa, 175C.
The air is cooled to 25C by heat transfer to the surroundings at 25C.
Calculate the availability in the initial and final states and the
irreversibility of this process. Take p0 = 100 kPa.
(Ans. 135 kJ/kg, 114.6 kJ/kg, 222 kJ)

Q13 Q.8 A mass of 15 kg of air in a piston-cylinder device is heated from 25 to 77oC by passing
current through a resistance heater inside the cylinder. The pressure inside the cylinder is held
constant at 300 kPa during the process, and a heat loss of 60 kJ occurs. Determine the electric
energy supplied, in kWh.
Q14 Air is contained in a cylinder device fitted with a piston-cylinder. The piston initially rest on
a set of stops, and a pressure of 200 kPa is required to move the piston. Initially, the air is at 100
kPa and 23oC and occupies a volume of 0.25 m3. Determine the amount of heat transferred to
the air, in kJ, while increasing the temperature to 700 K. assume air has constant specific heats
evaluated at 300 K
(Ans : 94.05 KJ)
Q15 Air is contained in a piston-cylinder device at 600 kPa and 927oC, and occupies a volume of
0.8 m3. The air undergoes and isothermal (constant temperature) process until the pressure in
reduced to 300 kPa. The piston is now fixed in place and not allowed to move while a heat
transfer process takes until the air reaches 27oC. (a) Sketch the system showing the energies
crossing the boundary and P-V diagram for the combined processes. (b) For the combined
process determine the net amount of heat transfer, in kJ, and its direction. Assume air has
constant specific heats evaluated at 300 K

Q16 Two reversible heat engines A and B are arranged in series. A rejecting heat directly to B.
Engine A receives 200 kJ at a temperature of 421oC from a hot source, while engine B is in
communication with a cold sink at a temperature of 4.4oC. If the work output of A is twice that of
B, find (a) the intermediate temperature between A and B, (b) the efficiency of each engine, and
(c) the heat rejected to the cold sink.
Q17 Two reversible heat engines A and B are arranged in series. A rejecting heat directly to B.
Engine A receives 200 kJ at a temperature of 421oC from a hot source, while engine B is in
communication with a cold sink at a temperature of 4.4oC. If the work output of A is twice that of
B, find (a) the intermediate temperature between A and B, (b) the efficiency of each engine, and
(c) the heat rejected to the cold sink.
Q18 Find the volume, enthalpy and entropy of the steam at 1.4 Mpa and 380oC ?
Q19 Water at 40 C is continuously sprayed into a pipeline carrying 5 tonnes of steam at 5 bar,
300 C per hour. At a section downstream where the pressure is 3 bar, the quality is to be 95%.
Find the rate of water spray in kg/h.
Q20 A rigid closed tank of volume 3 m3 contains 5 kg of wet steam at a pressure of 200 kPa. The
tank is heated until the steam becomes dry saturated. Determine the final pressure and the heat
transfer to the tank.
Q21 Two streams of steam, one at 2 MPa, 300C and the other at 2 MPa, 400C, mix in a steady
flow adiabatic process. The rates of flow of the two streams are 3 kg/min and 2 kg/min
respectively. Evaluate the final temperature of the emerging stream, if there is no pressure drop
due to the mixing process. What would be the rate of increase in the entropy of the universe? This
stream with a negligible velocity now expands adiabatically in a nozzle to a pressure of 1 kPa.
Determine the exit velocity of the stream and the exit area of the nozzle.
Q22 Steam at 10 bar, 250C flowing with negligible velocity at the rate of 3 kg/min mixes
adiabatically with steam at 10 bar, 0.75 quality, flowing also with negligible velocity at the rate of
5 kg/min. The combined stream of steam is throttled to 5 bar and then expanded isentropically in
a nozzle to 2 bar. Determine (a) The state of steam after mixing (b) The state of steam after
throttling (c) The increase in entropy due to throttling (d) The velocity of steam at the exit from
the nozzle (e) The exit area of the nozzle. Neglect the K.E. of steam at the inlet to the nozzle.
Q23 0.5 kg of helium and 0.5 kg of nitrogen are mixed at 20 C and at a total pressure of 100 kPa.
Find (a) the volume of the mixture, (b) the partial volumes of the components, (c) the partial
pressures of the components, (d) the mole fractions of the components, (e) the specific heats Cp
and Cv of the mixture, and (f) the gas constant of the mixture.