Fundamentals of Thermodynamics

Citation

Borgnakke, C., & Sonntag, R. E. (2022). Fundamentals of Thermodynamics (10th ed., international adaptation, SI units). Wiley.

Chapter Summary

The publisher's table of contents shows thirteen chapters in about 736 pages. Every chapter ends with a summary and a problem set, and most contain an "Engineering Applications" section. The international adaptation is stated to be in SI units and to include some reorganization.

Chapter 1: Introduction and Preliminaries

Sets up the vocabulary: thermodynamic system and control volume, macroscopic versus microscopic views, properties, state, processes and cycles, units, specific volume and density, pressure, energy, temperature, and the zeroth law, ending with engineering applications.

Chapter 2: Properties of a Pure Substance

Covers phase boundaries and the P-v-T surface, the use of property tables for two-phase, liquid, solid and superheated states, the ideal-gas model, the compressibility factor and equations of state.

Chapter 3: Energy Equation and First Law of Thermodynamics

Introduces the energy equation and the first law together with work (including moving-boundary work), heat and heat-transfer modes, internal energy, enthalpy, specific heats and ideal-gas energy changes. A section on problem analysis and solution technique appears here, as does treatment of nonuniform states and the transient heat transfer process.

Chapter 4: Energy Analysis for a Control Volume

Applies conservation of mass and the energy equation to control volumes: steady-state processes, examples of steady devices, multiple-flow devices and transient flow.

Chapters 5–6: The Second Law of Thermodynamics; Entropy

Chapter 5 develops heat engines, refrigerators and heat pumps, the second law, reversibility and irreversibility, the Carnot cycle, thermodynamic and ideal-gas temperature scales and the inequality of Clausius. Chapter 6 defines entropy as a property, evaluates entropy changes for substances, solids, liquids and ideal gases, covers the reversible polytropic process, entropy generation and the principle of the increase of entropy, and closes with comments on entropy and chaos.

Chapters 7–8: Entropy Analysis for a Control Volume; Exergy

Chapter 7 extends the entropy balance to control volumes, including steady and transient processes and device efficiency. Chapter 8 treats exergy, reversible work and irreversibility, the exergy balance and the second-law efficiency.

Chapters 9–10: Gas Power and Refrigeration Systems; Vapor Power and Refrigeration Systems

Chapter 9 covers air-standard cycles: Stirling and Ericsson, Otto, Diesel, dual, Atkinson and Miller, Brayton with regeneration, gas-turbine configurations, jet propulsion and the air-standard refrigeration cycle. Chapter 10 covers the Rankine cycle and its reheat and regenerative variants, deviations of actual cycles, combined heat and power, vapor-compression refrigeration and working fluids, the absorption cycle, exergy analysis of cycles and combined-cycle systems.

Chapters 11–12: Gas Mixtures; Thermodynamic Relations

Chapter 11 handles mixtures of ideal gases and gas-vapor mixtures, including adiabatic saturation, wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures and the psychrometric chart. Chapter 12 collects the Clapeyron equation, Maxwell relations, relations for enthalpy, internal energy and entropy, compressibility and expansivity, equations of state and generalized charts, and property relations for mixtures.

Chapter 13: Chemical Reactions

Covers fuels and combustion, enthalpy of formation, energy analysis of reacting systems, heating values, adiabatic flame temperature, the third law and absolute entropy, second-law analysis of reacting systems and fuel cells.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–4: Foundations, Properties, First Law

• Control volume: a region of space across which mass can flow, introduced in Chapter 1 and analysed in Chapter 4.
• Compressibility factor: a correction that measures departure from ideal-gas behaviour.
• Enthalpy and specific heats: the property and heat-capacity concepts used in the first-law chapters.

Chapters 5–8: Second Law, Entropy and Exergy

• Carnot cycle and Clausius inequality: the reference cycle and the inequality from which entropy is developed.
• Entropy generation: the measure of irreversibility used in the entropy balance.
• Exergy and second-law efficiency: available work and the efficiency based on it.

Chapters 9–13: Cycles, Mixtures, Relations, Reactions

• Air-standard cycles: idealized gas power cycles (Otto, Diesel, Brayton and others) and refrigeration cycles.
• Rankine cycle: the basic vapor power cycle with reheat and regeneration.
• Psychrometric chart: the chart for gas-vapor mixtures, tied to wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures.
• Maxwell relations: identities that connect thermodynamic properties.
• Adiabatic flame temperature: the temperature reached when combustion occurs without heat loss.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A clear, systematic sequence. The contents move from properties to the first law for control masses and control volumes, then to the second law, entropy for control masses and control volumes, and exergy, before the applied chapters. Control-volume analysis (Chapter 4) comes before the second law, so that each law is applied to open systems early.
• Entropy and exergy are given room. Entropy takes two chapters (6 and 7) and exergy has its own chapter, with exergy analysis of cycles in Chapter 10. This suits students who want second-law analysis as a working tool.
• Consistent pedagogical structure. Each chapter ends with a summary and problems and most carry an "Engineering Applications" section, and Chapter 3 includes a section on problem analysis and solution technique.
• Applied coverage. The cycle chapters include variants such as the Atkinson and Miller cycles, jet propulsion, absorption refrigeration and combined cycles; Chapter 13 includes fuel cells.

Limitations

• No chapter on phase and chemical equilibrium or compressible flow. The 13 chapters of this international adaptation stop at chemical reactions. A reader who needs equilibrium or compressible flow will have to look in another book.
• An adapted edition. The publisher describes this as an international adaptation in SI units with some organizational changes, so chapter numbering and some content may differ from other editions of the book. Check your syllabus against the edition you hold.
• Applications are packed into a few chapters. Mixtures and psychrometrics (Chapter 11), thermodynamic relations (Chapter 12) and reacting systems (Chapter 13) each have one chapter, so courses that spend much time on combustion or air conditioning will need supplementary material.

Where It Fits in the Course

Borgnakke and Sonntag is a full-length main text for a first or second engineering thermodynamics course. Çengel, Boles and Kanoğlu's Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach is a direct alternative; its tenth edition has 18 chapters and, unlike this adaptation, includes chapters on chemical and phase equilibrium and compressible flow. It likewise gives entropy two chapters (Entropy and Entropy Analysis). Moran, Shapiro, Boettner and Bailey's Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics is another systematic main text with a similar scope, and Turns and Pauley's Thermodynamics: Concepts and Applications is a gentler, example-driven introduction whose second edition splits the second law into two chapters and adds mixtures, psychrometrics, chemical equilibrium and combustion.

Peter Atkins's The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction is a compact conceptual preview of the four laws. Among the physics-oriented titles on this course list, Schroeder's An Introduction to Thermal Physics defines temperature and entropy through the counting of microstates, and Blundell and Blundell's Concepts in Thermal Physics builds the laws from probability and the meaning of temperature. Bejan's Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics is the graduate-level continuation, using exergy and entropy generation as design tools.

How to Use This Book

The book is for engineering students who have first-year calculus and introductory physics and are taking a first or second thermodynamics course. Read Chapters 1–4 in order, since everything later depends on properties and the energy equation; work with the property tables from Chapter 2 onward.

• Core: Chapters 1–8 are the heart of the subject. Do not skip Chapter 4, and give Chapters 5–8 time: they carry the second law, entropy and exergy.
• Cycles: Chapters 9 and 10 apply the earlier chapters. Choose the gas-turbine and Rankine sections that match your course, and treat variants such as Atkinson/Miller or absorption refrigeration as optional.
• As needed: Chapter 11 for psychrometrics and air conditioning, Chapter 12 for thermodynamic relations, Chapter 13 for combustion and reacting systems.

Follow each worked example step by step, then try the end-of-chapter problems; use the chapter summaries to review before attempting problem sets.