Work Boundary

• Work boundary is the expansion and compression work in a piston cylinder

device.
• There have 4 conditions that need to consider in derivation of work
boundary from polytropic process.
1. Isobaric process
2. Isothermal process
3. Isochoric process
4. n ≠ 1
 Isobaric process
• An isobaric process is a thermodynamic process in which the pressure
stays constant: Δp = 0
Derivation of work done:
2
𝑊𝑏 = න 𝑃𝑑𝑉
1
2
= 𝑃ᵒ ‫׬‬1 𝑑𝑉

= 𝑃° (𝑉2 − 𝑉1 )
 Isothermal process
• An isothermal process is a thermodynamic process in which the
temperature stays constant: ΔT = 0
• For an ideal gas, the product of pressure and volume (PV) is a constant if
the gas is kept at isothermal conditions.
• Thus, n in P = C𝑉 −𝑛 is equal to 1.

𝑃1 𝑉1 = 𝐶 = 𝑃2 𝑉2
Derivation of work done:

2
𝑊𝑏 = න 𝑃𝑑𝑉
1
2
= ‫׬‬1 𝐶𝑉 −1 𝑑𝑉
𝑉2
= Cln
𝑉1

𝑉2
= PVln
𝑉1
 Isochoric process

• An isochoric process, also called an isometric process, is a process during

which volume remains constant.
• n in P = C𝑉 −𝑛 is equal to 0.
• Thus, dV = 0.
2
𝑊𝑏 = න 𝑃𝑑𝑉
1

=0
When n ≠ 1

2
𝑊𝑏 = න 𝑃𝑑𝑉
1
2
= ‫׬‬1 𝐶𝑉 −𝑛 𝑑𝑉
𝑉2−𝑛 +1 − 𝑉1−𝑛 +1
=C
1−𝑛

𝑃2 𝑉2 − 𝑃1 𝑉1
=
1−𝑛

since C = 𝑃2 𝑉2𝑛 = 𝑃1 𝑉1𝑛 . For an ideal gas (PV = mRT), the equation can write as
𝑚𝑅(𝑇2 − 𝑇1 )
𝑊𝑏 =
1−𝑛
 Relationship of work boundary and P-v diagram

We can find the boundary work by calculate

the area under the process curve 1-2.

2 2
A = න 𝑑𝐴 = න 𝑃𝑑𝑉
1 1
• A gas can follow several different paths as it expands
from state 1 to state 2. From the P-V diagram, we
know that each path will have different work done.

• The net work done during a cycle is the difference

between the work done by the system and the work
done on the system. The work done by the system
during expansion process (area under path A) is greater
than the work done on the system during the
compression part of the cycle (area under path B).