Thermodynamics, Heat Conduction, and Principles of Modeling, Honors

Catalog description

EMCH 302H is a required course for engineering science students. This course presents the fundamental principles of classical thermostatics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer with relevant engineering applications. The students are expected to develop skills necessary to apply these principles to common engineering problems involving properties of matter, energy, non-reacting mixtures, and energy transport. The classical thermostatics and thermodynamics instruction will typically take 9 weeks. Control volume analysis techniques are introduced for closed and open systems undergoing both quasi-static and dynamic processes. The techniques are applied to analyze common power and refrigeration cycles, including gas and vapor systems. Diffusion in fluid and solid mixtures will also be considered. Special attention will be devoted to the notions of Helmholtz and Gibbs free energies as well as enthalpy. Use and significance of these concepts constitutive theories of gas, fluid, and solid materials systems will be discussed. The heat transfer component of the course will typically take 4 weeks. Instruction on heat transfer, will cover the three classical modes of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. Heat exchangers and heat transfer from extended surfaces are presented at a very basic level. Two weeks will be devoted to an introduction to statistical thermodynamic concepts in which a thermodynamic system is viewed as an ensemble whose state can be characterized in phase space. Enough background will be provided to compare and contrast the classical and statistical notions of entropy.