A MATLAB Toolkit Replacing Property Tables in Undergrad Thermodynamics Courses

A MATLAB Toolkit Replacing Property Tables in Undergrad Thermodynamics CoursesIn common undergraduate engineering thermodynamic courses, standard syllabi comprise first and second law applications involving phase diagrams of solid-liquid-vapor.Students are expected to learn thermodynamic properties, their behavior in different phases, and sketches of processes indicating states and selected thermodynamic properties.Most numerical examples covering real substance behavior involve calculation of thermodynamic properties like internal energy, enthalpy, entropy etc. using the property tables published in textbooks.While students can grasp the reading of properties if pressure and temperature are both given, which is the standard format these tables are presented, many students have difficulty in determining properties when known properties are other than temperature and pressure.In addition, looking up numbers from the many tables and carrying out necessary interpolations, when there is not an exact entry in the table, are boring and prone to errors when it is done over and over.Students also facing difficulties in visualizing the specific processes in the standard 3-dimensional pressure-volume-temperature space reducing teaching efficiency in explaining the core and more sophisticated concepts.Such