Mass and Energy Analysis of

Control Volumes
Conservation of Energy for Control volumes

The conservation of mass and the conservation of energy principles for open systems
or control volumes apply to systems having mass crossing the system boundary or
control surface. In addition to the heat transfer and work crossing the system
boundaries, mass carries energy with it as it crosses the system boundaries.
Thus, the mass and energy content of the open system may change when mass
enters or leaves the control volume.

Thermodynamic processes involving control volumes can be considered in two

groups: steady-flow processes and unsteady-flow processes. During a
steady-flow process, the fluid flows through the control volume steadily,
experiencing no change with time at a fixed position. 2
Mass Flow Rate

Mass flow through a cross-sectional area per unit time is called the mass flow rate.
Note the dot over the mass symbol indicates a time rate of change. It is expressed
as


where Vn is the velocity normal to the cross-sectional flow area.

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If the fluid density and velocity are constant over the flow cross-sectional area, the
mass flow rate is
V A
m  Vave A  ave
v
where  is the density, kg/m3 ( = 1/v), A is the cross-sectional area, m2; and Vave is the
average fluid velocity normal to the area, m/s.

The fluid volume flowing through a cross-section per unit time is called the volume
flow rate V . The volume flow rate is given by integrating the product of the velocity
normal to the flow area and the differential flow area over the flow area. If the
velocity over the flow area is a constant, the volume flow rate is given by (note we are
dropping the “ave” subscript on the velocity)


V  VA (m3 / s)

The mass and volume flow rate are related by

V
  V 
m ( kg / s)
v

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Conservation of Mass for General Control Volume

The conservation of mass principle for the open system or control volume is
expressed as

or
m m
in out  msystem (kg/s)

Steady-state, Steady-Flow Conservation of Mass:

Since the mass of the control volume is constant with time during the steady-state,
steady-flow process, the conservation of mass principle becomes

or

 m   m
in out ( kg / s)
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Flow work and the energy of a flowing fluid

Energy flows into and from the control volume with the mass. The energy required to
push the mass into or out of the control volume is known as the flow work or flow
energy.

The fluid up steam of the control surface acts as a piston to push a unit of mass into
or out of the control volume. Consider the unit of mass entering the control volume
shown below.

As the fluid upstream pushes mass across the control surface, work done on that unit
of mass is
A
W flow  F L  F L  PV  Pmv
A
W flow
w flow   Pv 6
m
The term Pv is called the flow work done on the unit of mass as it crosses the
control surface.

The total energy of flowing fluid

The total energy carried by a unit of mass as it crosses the control surface is the sum
of the internal energy, flow work, potential energy,
 and kinetic energy.
V2
  u  Pv   gz
2
2
V
 h  gz
2
Here we have used the definition of enthalpy, h = u + Pv.

Energy transport by mass

Amount of energy transport across a control surface:
 V2 
Emass  m  m  h   gz  (kJ)
 2 
Rate of energy transport across a control surface:
 V2 
Emass  m  m  h   gz  (kW)
 2  7
Conservation of Energy for General Control Volume

The conservation of energy principle for the control volume or open system has the
same word definition as the first law for the closed system. Expressing the energy
transfers on a rate basis, the control volume first law is

or
Ein  Eout  Esystem (kW)
Rate of net energy transfer Rate change in internal, kinetic,
by heat, work, and mass potential, etc., energies

Considering that energy flows into and from the control volume with the mass, energy
enters because net heat is transferred to the control volume, and energy leaves
because the control volume does net work on its surroundings, the open system, or
control volume, the first law becomes

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where  is the energy per unit mass flowing into or from the control volume. The
energy per unit mass, , flowing across the control surface that defines the control
volume is composed of four terms: the internal energy, the kinetic energy, the
potential energy, and the flow work.

The total energy carried by a unit of mass as it crosses the control surface is
2
V
  u  Pv   gz
2
2
V
 h  gz
2

Where the time rate change of the energy of the control volume has been written as
E CV

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Steady-state, Steady-Flow Conservation of Mass:

m  m in out (kg/s)
Steady-state, steady-flow conservation of energy

Since the energy of the control volume is constant with time during the steady-state,
steady-flow process, the conservation of energy principle becomes

or
Ein  Eout  Esystem (kW)
Rate of net energy transfer Rate change in internal, kinetic,
by heat, work, and mass potential, etc., energies

or
Ein  Eout (kW)
Rate of net energy transfer Rate of net energy transfer
by heat, work, and mass by heat, work, and mass
into the system from the system

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Considering that energy flows into and from the control volume with the mass, energy
enters because heat is transferred to the control volume, and energy leaves because
the control volume does work on its surroundings, the steady-state, steady-flow first
law becomes

Often this result is written as

where

Q net   Q in   Q out
Wnet   Wout   Win

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Steady-state, steady-flow for one entrance and one exit
A number of thermodynamic devices such as pumps, fans, compressors, turbines,
nozzles, diffusers, and heaters operate with one entrance and one exit. The steady-
state, steady-flow conservation of mass and first law of thermodynamics for these
systems reduce to

When the kinetic and potential energies can be neglected, the conservation of energy
equation becomes
Q  W  m(h2  h1 ) (kW)

We often write this last result per unit mass flow as

q  w  (h2  h1 ) (kJ/kg)
Q W
where q  and w  .
m m
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Some Steady-Flow Engineering Devices
Below are some engineering devices that operate essentially as steady-state, steady-
flow control volumes.

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Nozzles and Diffusers

  
V1 V2  V1

  
V1 V2  V1

For flow through nozzles, the heat transfer, work, and potential energy are normally
neglected, and nozzles have one entrance and one exit. The conservation of energy
becomes

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Turbines

If we neglect the changes in kinetic and potential energies as fluid flows through an
adiabatic turbine having one entrance and one exit, the conservation of mass and the
steady-state, steady-flow first law becomes

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Compressors and fans

Compressors and fans are essentially the same devices. However, compressors
operate over larger pressure ratios than fans. If we neglect the changes in kinetic
and potential energies as fluid flows through an adiabatic compressor having one
entrance and one exit, the steady-state, steady-flow first law or the conservation of
energy equation becomes

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Throttling devices

Consider fluid flowing through a one-entrance, one-exit porous plug. The fluid
experiences a pressure drop as it flows through the plug. No net work is done by the
fluid. Assume the process is adiabatic and that the kinetic and potential energies are
neglected; then the conservation of mass and energy equations become

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A throttling device may be used to determine the enthalpy of saturated steam. The
steam is throttled from the pressure in the pipe to ambient pressure in the
calorimeter. The pressure drop is sufficient to superheat the steam in the calorimeter.
Thus, the temperature and pressure in the calorimeter will specify the enthalpy of the
steam in the pipe.

Mixing chambers

The mixing of two fluids occurs frequently in engineering applications. The section
where the mixing process takes place is called a mixing chamber. The ordinary
shower is an example of a mixing chamber.

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Heat exchangers
Heat exchangers are normally well-insulated
devices that allow energy exchange between hot
and cold fluids without mixing the fluids. The
pumps, fans, and blowers causing the fluids to flow
across the control surface are normally located
outside the control surface.

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Liquid pumps

The work required when pumping an incompressible liquid in an adiabatic steady-

state, steady-flow process is given by

The enthalpy difference can be written as

h2  h1  (u2  u1 )  ( Pv ) 2  ( Pv )1

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For incompressible liquids we assume that the density and specific volume are
constant. The pumping process for an incompressible liquid is essentially isothermal,
and the internal energy change is approximately zero (we will see this more clearly
after introducing the second law). Thus, the enthalpy difference reduces to the
difference in the pressure-specific volume products. Since v2 = v1 = v the work input
to the pump becomes

W is the net work done by the control volume, and it is noted that work is input to the
pump; so, W  Win, pump .

If we neglect the changes in kinetic and potential energies, the pump work becomes
(Win, pump )  m  v( P2  P1 )  (kW)
Win, pump  m  v( P2  P1 )
We use this result to calculate the work supplied to boiler feedwater pumps in steam
power plants.

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If we apply the above energy balance to a pipe section that has no pump (W  0 ), we
obtain.

 V22  V12 
W  m v( P2  P1 )   g ( z2  z1 )  (kW )
 2 
 V22  V12 
0  m v( P2  P1 )   g ( z2  z1 ) 
 2 
1
v

P2 V22 P1 V12
  z2    z1
 2g  2g

This last equation is the famous Bernoulli’s equation for frictionless, incompressible
fluid flow through a pipe.

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