revised 4/4/2006

Vapor Power Systems

Oklahoma State University MAE 4263* (CID 14339) Spring 2006

Course Objectives:

Expected Outcomes: Students will receive problem-solving practice encompassing:

  1. Applying physical reasoning to thermodynamic & heat-transfer problems, and
  2. Designing simulations and analyzing the data;
  3. Designing components to meet requirements, and
  4. Cooperation with others (on design and simulation problems);
  5. Formulating engineering problems;
  6. Working to professional standards, and
  7. Reporting results and conclusions appropriately.
Lectures will also include:
  1. Understanding the societal and environmental impact of engineering solutions, and
  2. Relating energy policy to contemporary issues.
Some of the final assignments will cover:
  1. Using the tools of continuing learning, and
  2. Using the tools of engineering practice.
Students will demonstrate their ability to work professionally in the design of thermal systems.

Class Hours: 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. MWF in 111 Engineering South.
Martin Luther King Day: Monday, Jan 16, 2006; to be made up later by arrangement.
Spring Break: March 11 to 19, 2006.
Final Examination: 8:00 to 9:50 a.m. Monday, May 1, 2006; make-up exams (4:00 to 5:50 p.m. on Friday, May 5, 2006) only by prior arrangement.

Field Trips:

  1. 2/1/2006: OSU Power Plant, Washington St. at Hall of Fame Ave.
  2. 4/3/2006: Stillwater Power Plant, at Boomer Lake.
  3. Either: OG&E Sooner Power Plant, North on Hwy. 177 in Redrock; or
  4. 2/25/2006: AEP/PSO Riverside Power Station, near Tulsa in Jenks;
  5. or: Entergy Arkansas Nuclear One Power Plant
    6. , Russelsville.
  6. Optional: 5/6/2006, 40th Annual Oklahoma Steam Show, on Fairgrounds in Pawnee

Instructor: Prof. P.M. Moretti, MAE Dept., 218 EN, OSU, Stillwater, OK 74078-5016; e-mail: moretti at ceat.okstate.edu, Tel. (405)744-5903; FAX (405)744-7873; web-site: moretti.ceat.okstate.edu (this is where announcements, assignments, and solutions are posted); Office Hours: 10:15 a.m. to 12:00 noon TTh, or by appointment; or see Teaching Assistant: Wendell Cook, 286-288 Cordell South on Wednesdays, 1:30 to 3:15 p.m.

Required Textbook: Mohamed M. El-Wakil, Powerplant Technology, McGraw-Hill Primis Custom Publishing, N.Y. ©1984 & ©2002, ISBN 0-07-287102-4.

Other useful Texts: E.E. Khalil, Power Plant Design, Abacus Press/Gordon & Breach Science Publishers, New York 1990, ISBN 0-85626-510-1.

References: Recent editions of the following books are on Reserve at the Circulation Desk:

Earlier editions of many of these books, as well as the 24-volume ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (OSU Library No. 621.1845 A512bo 1989), and bound Trans. ASME Journals such as J. Pressure Vessel Technology (OSU Library No. 681.7605 J86), are in the library basement stacks.

Prerequisites: MAE 3223 "Thermodynamics II." & MAE 3233 "Heat Transfer."

Course Content: Vapor power cycles, combustion processes applied to power production, power plants, and auxiliary systems associated with power plants. Overall design of power plants as well as component design. Power system economics and load analysis: load-duration curves & screening curves. Utilization of computers for analysis and design.

Course Conduct: The course will be conducted in a traditional lecture format. Questions and class discussion relating to lectures, reading, and homework are encouraged. Civility, courtesy, and promptness are required (set your watch with time.gov).

Examinations: There will be three "one-hour" tests and one "two-hour" final. No make-up tests will be given except in extreme circumstances, and then only upon arrangement prior to the scheduled exam.

Absences: This Syllabus is tentative. Each student is responsible for obtaining changes and additional information announced in class: homework assignments, test dates, schedule changes, modifications of the Syllabus, lecture notes, etc., and for being present at all examinations.

Homework: Assignments will be due before the beginning of class on the due date; please leave it at the front of the classroom, so that you will not disrupt the class by trying to hand it in after the lecture has begun. No late homework can be accepted.

Graded homework will be returned in the boxes in 209 EN. Solutions will be posted either on the second-floor hallway, opposite 208 EN, or else on the instructor's website.

Grading: We will keep track of

  1. attendance and participation,
  2. projects and assignments,
  3. three one-hour tests, and
  4. a final exam.
Each of these four component will be given a score ranging from zero to 1.00 (i.e., 100%). The semester grade will be computed from the formula w0.125×x0.25×y0.375×z0.25. For most students the result will be similar to traditional additive grading schemes, such as (2x+3y+2z)/7 minus penalty for absences. However, if you neglect and get an unusually low score in any one area, this multiplicative scheme will drag down your grade — you must participate in all four areas! The rationale is explained at http;//moretti.ceat.okstate.edu/grading.pdf

Letter grades will be based on the distribution of scores. Courses marked with an * are approved for graduate credit. Graduate students, and last-semester undergraduates enrolled to take the course for graduate credit, will be expected to undertake special assignments.

Drop & Add Policy: Substantive lectures and semester planning begin on the very first day of class (Monday 1/9/2006); students adding the course late must make up the missed material through independent study. Until Tuesday, 1/17/2006, a student may drop the course with no record on his transcript. Other critical dates are listed on page 4 of the Class Schedule. Rules for grade assignment are given on pages 17 to 18 of the University Catalog. The grade of "I" will not be given to students preparing to repeat the course. A student may not drop a course in which a formal charge of academic dishonesty is pending. Other Information may be found in the Spring 2006 Syllabus Attachment and the Academic Affairs Web Page http://www.okstate.edu/acadaffr/