Benefits of Exergy-Based Analysis for Aerospace Engineering Applications—Part I

Abstract

This paper compares the analysis of systems from two different perspectives: an energy-based focus and an exergy-based focus. A complex system was simply modeled as interacting thermodynamic systems to illustrate the differences in analysis methodologies and results. The energy-based analysis had combinations of calculated states that are infeasible. On the other hand, the exergy-based analyses only allow feasible states. More importantly, the exergy-based analyses provide clearer insight to the combination of operating conditions for optimum system-level performance. The results strongly suggest changing the analysis/design paradigm used in aerospace engineering from energy-based to exergy-based. This methodology shift is even more critical in exploratory research and development where previous experience may not be available to provide guidance. Although the models used herein may appear simplistic, the message is very powerful and extensible to higher-fidelity models: the 1st Law is only a necessary condition for design, whereas the 1st and 2nd Laws provide the sufficiency condition.