Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná

Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia em Mecânica e de

Materiais
DISCIPLINA: PMT04 – Fundamentos daTermodinâmica
Prof. Cezar O. R. Negrão

1st Homework – 2018-1 (Deadline 20/03/2010)

1) Show that the expansion work of a gas following a polytrophic process

(PVn=constant) from state (1) to state (2) is given by:

2 2  PV
PV
W 1 1
n 1
1 n

 V2 
W  PV
1 1 ln   n 1
 V1 

2) A rigid tank of 1 m3 contains nitrogen initially at 10 bar ad 300 K. Heat is transferred

to the gas increasing its temperature to 400 K. During the process, a pressure control
valve allows nitrogen to escape, keeping the pressure constant within the tank.
Determine the amount of heat transferred during the process and the mass that
escaped. Consider the nitrogen as an ideal gas.

3) Assuming that the atmosphere is locally isothermal, show that the pressure change
with altitude according to:

P   gz 
 exp   0 
P0  P0 
where is specific mass, P is pressure, g is the gravity, z is the altitude and index o
indicates the Earth surface.

4) An ideal gas is heated at a constant volume to reach a temperature that is twice its
initial value, and then it is cooled down at a constant pressure to return to the initial
temperature. Find out an expression for the work performed by the gas. Determine the
net amount of heat transferred during the process.

5) A small well-insulated cylinder and piston assembly contains an ideal gas at

10.13bar and 294.3K. A mechanical lock prevents the piston from moving. The length
of the cylinder containing the gas is 0,305m and the piston cross sectional area is
1.858x10-2m2. The piston, which weighs 226kg, is tightly fitted and when allowed to
move, there are indications that considerable friction is present. When the mechanical
lock is released, the piston moves in the cylinder until it impacts and is engaged by
another mechanical stop; at this point, the volume has just doubled. The heat capacity
of the ideal gas is 20.93J/mol K, independent of temperature and pressure. Consider
that the heat capacity of the piston and cylinder walls to be negligible.
a) As an engineer, can you estimate the temperature and pressure of the gas after
such expansion? Clearly state any assumptions.
b) Repeat the calculations if the cylinder were rotated 90º and 180º before tripping the
mechanical lock.
6) A building with an internal volume of 400 m3 must be heated by using an electric
heater, placed in a duct inside the building. Initially, the air within the building is 14C
and the local atmospheric pressure is 95 kPa. The building loses heat to the
surroundings at 450 kJ/min. Air is forced by a fan to flow in steady state through a duct
and a heater that dissipates 250 W, raising the air temperature in 5C. How long does it
take for the air within the building to reach an average temperature of 24C?

7) A mass of 0.5 kg of air is subjected to a power cycle that is composed of three

processes:
1-2: compression at constant volume from p1=2 bar and T1=5ºC to T2=180ºC
2-3: adiabatic expansion to V3 = 1.25 V2
3-1: compression at constant pressure.

(a) Represent the cycle in a P-V diagram P-V

(b) Find out the pressure at state 2 and the temperature at state 3
(c) Determine the thermal efficiency of the cycle

Consider the gas as an ideal gas.