Welcome to the UCL Mechanical engineering Thermodynamics wiki page.

You will be able to read and update information on all aspects of the course, which is broken down into the following topics- click any of the links to browse these in greater depth:

Introduction: Basic concepts, definitions and units

Zeroth law: Definition, Temperature scales

Energy Interactions: Heat and work; temperature, different types of work, p-v diagrams, enthalpy, specific heat

First law of thermodynamics: Definition, energy derivation

First law applied to flow processes: Steady flow energy equation (SFEE), control volumes, energy balance, example questions: steady and unsteady

Second law of thermodynamics: Cyclic heat engines, direct and reverse heat engines, COP and efficiency

Entropy: Derivation of entropy, Clausius' theorem, T-S diagrams

Properties of pure substances: P-V and P-T diagrams for pure substances, steam tables and dryness fractions, two-property rule, ideal, real, perfect and semi-perfect gases

Combined first and second laws: Tds equations

Vapour power cycles: Steam power cycle, Rankine cycle, vapour compression cycle processes, comparison of rankine and carnot cycles

Gas power cycles: Carnot cycle, Air standard cycle, Otto cycle, Diesel cycle, Brayton cycle

Refrigeration cycles: Standard and reversed cycle, refrigeration by non-cyclic purposes, ideal cycle, choice of refrigerant