Mathcad Functions For Thermodynamic Analysis Of Ideal Gases

Data from “The Chemkin Thermodynamic Data Base” were used to generate MathCAD functions for the molar specific enthalpy, internal energy, entropy, specific heat at constant volume, and the specific heat at constant pressure for twelve chemical species of the carbon-hydrogen-oxygen-nitrogen system. The functions for oxygen and nitrogen were then used to generate ideal gas functions for air, including functions for relative pressure and relative volume. The MathCAD functions were made available for students in ME 242 Thermodynamics II and in ME 448/548 Internal Combustion Engines. The ideal gas functions were generated to ease the complication of using tabulated data for ideal gas properties, to allow parametric studies of thermodynamic systems using ideal gases, and to enable the students to generate relative pressure and relative volume tables for substances other than air. The details and usage of the ideal gas MathCAD functions are discussed, and specific examples of their application to problems in thermodynamics and combustion are presented.