CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE THEOREMS OF THERMODYNAMIC AVAILABILITY, WITH CONCISE FORMULATIONS - 2. IRREVERSIBILITY.

Abstract

This study presents an up-to-date and coherent review of a self-contained branch of classical thermodynamics whose importance to a proper assessment of the efficiency of energy-conversion processes has been better recognized elsewhere. As the theorems unfold, it becomes increasingly evident that, in non-flow processes, gross work output is of more basic importance than total shaft (useful) work output, in that the former rather than the latter provides the key to the simplest way of developing the theorems.