CE 21101 – Thermal & Energy Sciences for Civil Engineers

Credits and contact hours:

  • 3 credits
  • Lecture that meets 3 times per week for 50 minutes per meeting for 15 weeks

Specific course information:

  • Catalog description: Fundamental concepts of properties of materials, work, heat, internal energy, entropy, equilibrium, and relations derived from the first and second laws of thermodynamics; applying these principles towards civil engineering applications such as power plants; fluid flow in ducts/pipes; thermal properties of building/construction materials and processes; geothermal systems; HVAC processes; energy balance in buildings; refrigeration; hydroelectric power; analysis of waste water treatment plants; contaminant transport in air, water, and soil; climate change; the urban heat island effect; and energy use in the transportation sector.
  • Prerequisites: None
  • Course status: Required course

Specific Goals for the course:

  • Student learning outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course the student shall be able to:
    • Understand the principles of mass and energy conservation and their use in civil engineering applications.
    • Evaluate thermodynamic systems and several forms of work, energy, and heat transfer.
    • Apply conservation of mass and energy for closed systems and control volume processes.
    • Understand the second law of thermodynamics, entropy changes, and device efficiencies.
  •  Relationship of course to program outcomes
    • Outcome 1: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
    • Outcome 5: An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives.
    • Outcome 6: An ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgement to draw conclusions.

Topics:

  • INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
    • Introduction, basic thermodynamics terminology, processes, properties, and units.
  • ENERGY AND THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
    • Mechanical concepts of energy, additional forms of work and energy, heat transfer and conservation of energy for closed systems with example problems, thermodynamic cycles,
  • EVALUATING THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
    • Evaluating thermodynamic properties and specific heats.
  • CONTROL VOLUME ANALYSIS USING ENERGY
    • Real and ideal gases, ideal gas law with example problems, conservation of energy for control volumes, analyzing control volumes at steady state, transient control volumes and system integration, and control volume example problems.
  • IDEAL GAS MIXTURE AND PSYCHROMETRIC APPLICATIONS
    • Ideal gas mixtures, mixture processes and psychrometrics, psychrometric parameters, psychrometric chart, psychrometric processes in HVAC systems, and HVAC system example problems.
  • THE SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS AND ENTROPY
    • The 2nd law of thermodynamics, entropy, the 2nd law of thermodynamics for closed systems and control volumes, steady-state entropy balance, entropy balance example problems, isentropic processes and isentropic efficiencies.