(224h) Interactive Thermodynamics Lecture Modules with Matlab, Simulink, and Simscape

Thermodynamics is a core chemical engineering course and many instructors cover the First Law of Thermodynamics, the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and refrigeration cycles. Calculations of thermodynamic properties and generating phase diagrams are some of the typical computational tasks in thermodynamics courses. Software use can achieve multiple goals in a thermodynamics course: helping students understand challenging concepts through simulations, visualizations, and immediate feedback, helping students retain their programming knowledge, and sharpen their computational skills.

In this talk, we present how computation can be integrated into a thermodynamics course using modular course material developed using MATLAB, Simulink, and Simscape. With MATLAB Live Scripts, students learn to apply the first law of thermodynamics, investigate pressure-volume diagrams and their relationship to state equations in closed systems, compute work, reflect on the second law of thermodynamics, and investigate state diagrams. Live Scripts provide students with a rich learning experience by combining code, the output of the code, text, images, equations, and animations in an executable notebook environment. Live Scripts also offer an option to hide the code if instructors prefer to focus on the concepts rather than the code. This set of modules also contains Simulink models of a refrigerator which can be assigned as a course project to expose students to tools and workflows widely used in industry.

As these thermodynamics topics and tools are common between chemical engineering and mechanical engineering curricula, they can form the basis of an interdisciplinary thermodynamics, engineering computation, or capstone project course.