66 IIa. Thermodynamics: Fundamentals
sidering the flow of gas through a gas turbine, representing our control volume.
The steady flow condition requires that the mass flow rate of the gas entering the
gas turbine to be equal to the mass flow rate of gas leaving the gas turbine. This
also satisfies the steady state process during which dm
C.V.
/dt = 0. However, as we
will see in the next section, in a steady state process the rate of change of the en-
ergy of the control volume must also be zero, dE
C.V.
/dt = 0.
Returning to the gas turbine example, it is true that the gas properties are
changing as the gas flows through the blades of the turbine. That is to say the
properties change spatially and there is indeed a profile for pressure, temperature,
velocity, specific internal energy, and density from the entrance to the exit of the
turbine. However, in the steady state condition, the spatial distribution of each
property remains independent of time. On the other hand, in the unsteady state or
transient situation, gas properties in the control volume not only have spatial
variations but also vary with time. Hence in transient analysis, we must consider
mass and energy accumulation or depletion in a control volume.
Let’s now consider a case where in Figure IIa.5.1, the rate of either accumula-
tion or depletion of mass is zero. For the conservation of mass, Equation IIa.5.1
predicts that:
¦
=
¦
exit
e
inlet
i
mm
IIa.5.4
Equation IIa.5.4, also referred to as mass balance, is an intuitive implication of the
steady flow condition.
6. The First Law of Thermodynamics
The first law of thermodynamics is a relation between heat, work, and the total en-
ergy of a closed system. The first law of thermodynamics, also known as the con-
servation equation of energy or simply the energy equation has the simplest
mathematical form, if written for a closed system. We can intuitively obtain this
equation by using logical deduction (i.e. we expect the total energy of an isolated
system to remain constant). Total energy of a system, in general, is the summa-
tion of its internal, kinetic, and potential energies (E = U + KE + PE). Thus, for
an isolated system, dE = 0
1
. If the system is not isolated and heat and work are al-
lowed to cross the moving boundary of the system (Figure IIa.4.2), we expect that
addition of heat (Q) to this system and the production of some work (W) will re-
sult in a net change in the system total energy:
1
The assertion that energy can neither be created nor destroyed is a fundamental law in
classical mechanics. As discussed in Chapter VIe, on a sub-atomic basis, mass is a form
of energy appearing in a nucleus as the binding energy. The binding energy, in turn, is
manifested as the short term nuclear force. Thus, a more general statement is to say that
mass-energy can neither be created nor destroyed.