Page 8 - Advanced thermodynamics for engineers

Preface – Second Edition

It is almost 20 years since I wrote the first edition of this book, and I asked myself a number of ques-
tions when Elsevier invited me to consider writing a second edition. What is the status of thermody-
namics in engineering education? Would a new edition basically be a minor update of the original one?
Should I invite a ‘colleague’ to join me as a co-author? The answer to the last question is that Professor
Ali Turan, who was appointed to my Chair in UMIST when I retired, agreed to join me in this venture.
Professor Turan was extremely enthusiastic about the place of the book in engineering education, and
this buoyed up my spirits during the long period of preparing the manuscript.
The first question we tackled was the status of thermodynamics in engineering syllabuses: we both
agreed that it should be an integral part of any course, and that its influence and concepts were central
to understanding a wide range of subjects. The need for an understanding of thermodynamic principles
has increased over the last 20 years as the use of energy has expanded. The increase in the global de-
mand for energy is shown in Figure 1, where it can be seen that a growth of around 3% per annum is
occurring, but this is happening mainly in non-OECD countries where more than 5% is happening.

FIGURE 1
Increase in energy use since 1965.
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