The purpose of this book is to provide a mature approach to the basic principles of classical thermodynamics which is one of the few core subjects for the undergraduate students of almost all branches of engineering. The system-surroundings interactions involving work and heat transfer with associated property changes, and the system-control volume approaches of the first law have been emphasized. The second law has been elaborated upon in considerable detail. Except for some physical explanations, a statistical or microscopic analysis of the subject has not been made.

The first eight chapters of the book are devoted to a thorough treatment of the basic principles and concepts of classical thermodynamics. The second law and entropy have been introduced using the concept of heat engine. Chapters 9 and 10 present the properties of substances. Chapter 11 gives the general thermodynamic relationships among properties. A detailed analysis of power and refrigeration cycles is given in Chapters 12 to 14. Chapter 15 deals with air-water vapour mixtures, and reactive systems are analyzed in Chapter 16. To increase the utility of the book, Chapters 17 and 18 dealing with compressible fluid flow and heat transfer respectively, have been added.

Many illustrative examples are solved and many problems are provided in each chapter to aid comprehension and to stimulate the interest of the students.

Throughout the text SI units have been used. Tables and charts given in the Appendix are also in SI units.

This book is based mainly on the lecture notes prepared for classes on the subject at IIT Kharagpur. I am grateful to the authors of the books that I used in preparing the notes, a list of which is given in the bibliography. I am thankful to my colleagues in the mechanical engineering department of IIT Kharagpur, for many stimulating discussions, and for encouragement. I am indebted to all those who have helped in the preparation of the book.

I would very much appreciate criticisms, suggestions for improvement, and detection of errors from my readers, which will be gratefully acknowledged.

P K NAG