Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics

Reviewed by Mohammad Valipour, Assistant Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 9/13/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book covers most of the syllabus for Thermodynamics courses that I teach. The order of the chapters is also logical and in a standard form including 1. Basic Concepts and Definitions 2. Thermodynamic Properties 3. Ideal and Real Gasses 4. The First Law of Thermodynamics for Closed Systems 5. The First Law of Thermodynamics for a Control Volume 6. Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. There are some learning objectives that are really useful. They help students to be familiar with practical applications of what they learn. One of the negative points that I can mention is the lack of enough sample problems for each content. Students who take Thermodynamics need to practice many problems/examples to get ready for their exams. Only one sample problem for most of the topics is not enough particularly for those who need time to understand the concepts through solving sample problems. I think students can use this book as a study guide very well but they also need an auxiliary textbook/pamphlet to fill the gap of not solving multiple problems for each topic.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

In the current format, the book looks accurate. I could not find any problem with a wrong answer either in the solution or in the final answers.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I found the relevancy aspect of this book pretty high. Since the topics rely on the fundamentals of physics and follow Euclidean geometry, we cannot expect any change in the near future. However, the authors try to stay up to date by adding some real-life examples which is highly appreciated.

Clarity rating: 4

The technical terms are clear and understandable even for students with zero background in engineering. I like the friendly tone that has been used by the authors and the vocabulary and terminology are understandable for all readers even international students. However, the quality of some figures is low and they are not readable.

Consistency rating: 4

This is my favorite part of this book. It is very consistent and readable like a story from chapter 1 to chapter 6. The overall structure of the book holds together quite well. However, figure captions sometimes are too short, and adding some more information may be useful.

Modularity rating: 5

There are 6 chapters in this book. The author has done a nice job by putting sections and subsections in the right place. Different parts of the text are useable to be presented to students in different topics which might not be even the same in the book. The book includes occasional references to other subsections for further information, but such self-references do not look disruptive.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I think the material is provided and put together realistically. The organization of this book is logical. The sections and even subsections flow easily together with the previous and following sections/subsections. This book is organized and follows a clear structure. I found the online version of the book flow better due to the interactive design. The PDF version is also well formatted. Also, the topics are presented in a short concise fashion.

Interface rating: 3

An advantage of this book is having a user-friendly interface which makes it much easier for students to follow up with the materials discussed in the book. Unfortunately like many other OER books, the PDF version does not look like a regular book. The tables presented in the Appendix section of the book are not completed with missing some columns.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical issue.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

I did not find the book offensive/insensitive in any way. It would be better to cover more examples from different parts of the world to be fairer for international readers/students.

Reviewed by Sean Moroney, Lecturer, Windward Community College on 12/24/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

The text builds outward from the basic concepts and definitions of the underlying physics, guiding the reader through thermodynamic properties and introducing the subject of gasses. From there, the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics are explored in some depth.
Each Chapter and Section begins with some introductory text, followed by Examples. It is noted that the Solutions to the Examples seem to be written for students with some familiarity with Engineering Thermodynamics; this appears to be inconsistent with the book’s title, which is Introduction to Engineering Thermodynamics. It is recommended that the Sections be reviewed and edited to provide a sequence of problems of increasing complexity, with all steps delineated, for the training of the students in this field.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content of the subject of Classical Thermodynamics has, since the science developed, has, in its most basic level, not been subject to change, and, at the level of this text, is unlikely to ever change.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content of the subject of Classical Thermodynamics has, since the science developed, has, in its most basic level, not been subject to change, and, at the level of this text, is unlikely to ever change.

Clarity rating: 4

The text is generally clear and easy to follow; the prose is accessible for any reader. As mentioned above, under Comprehensiveness, the Solutions for the Examples might need to be revisited with the view of making the steps, and their logic, more accessible to the student.

Consistency rating: 5

The Sections of each Chapter are formatted according to a consistent framework. The terminology, once defined, is used consistently. A Glossary is available for the user to check definitions of terms.

Modularity rating: 5

In using this book in a course, it would be fairly easy to define Reading and Problem assignments from specific Sections. Under the Chapter headings, there are Sections that are arranged in a logical and sequential order. The Sections contain text, followed by examples which are, in turn, followed by an external link to a website that contains Practice Problems. It should be fairly easy to assign the Sections in an Academic Calendar.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book was quite well organized. It began with basic definitions and moved along quickly to a presentation of the two Laws of Thermodynamics with a number of applications.

Interface rating: 3

The Left Menu provides for easy navigation from one region of the book to any other region.
There was a large amount of white space throughout the book. For example, Chapter 3. Ideal and Real Gasses began on p. 80 with only the title at the top of the page; the following page was blank. The text of the Chapter began with the first Section on p. 82.
The Appendices were the place where the Tables of Thermodynamic values were to be found. Some Tables, as in Appendix A, were long enough to spread over a number of pages. The students would then have had to retrieve values from these tables; they would have been inconvenienced by the absence of the column headings on each page; the headings were only to be found at the top of the first page.
Some Tables, as, for example, Table B1: Saturated Ammonia, had its sixth and perhaps other columns terminated at the right edge of the page in the pdf display; only 2 digits of the values there were visible.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors (e.g., spelling, sentence structure, or the like) were detected.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There were no humans, or life-forms for that matter, anywhere in the book. It was strictly a technical book about thermodynamic concepts.

Comments

At the end of all the Sections, there is a link to one or more interactive H5P elements containing up to 10 Practice Problems. The Problems may be True or False Questions, text-based Multiple-Choice Questions, or mathematical Multiple-Choice Questions. A student may try one of these Problems and can select a wrong answer. The Problem will then respond with a blue button saying “Show Solution”. If the student has selected True and this is wrong, the Problem will then respond with the word “False”. This is not helpful for learning. Showing the Solution should involve presenting a complete rationale for why the original statement is indeed False. Similarly, a mathematical Question which is marked incorrect will simply have the correct answer displayed without any of the calculations leading to the answer. Clearly, this is unhelpful for students who are receiving this course as an Introduction.