In this paper the some aspects of the teaching of Irreversible Thermodynamics are discussed, emphasizing relevant concepts needed by the engineering student, and future professional. The irreversible nature of real processes is presented to the student in the introductory level, in place of the more traditional disciplines concentrated on Classical Thermodynamics, which describes systems underg...

Finite-time thermodynamics is the extension of traditional reversible thermodynamics to include the extra requirement that the process in question goes to completion in a specified finite length of time. As such it is by definition a branch of irreversible thermodynamics, but unlike most other versions of irreversible thermodynamics, finite-time thermodynamics does not require or assume any kno...

Friction and wear, often treated as unrelated, distinct phenomena, are manifestations of the same dissipative physical processes occurring at sliding interfaces. Friction force dissipates power and generates entropy. Wear irreversibly changes a material structure, often with loss of material. Associated with both friction and wear is production of irreversible entropy by interfacial dissipative...

The theory of irreversible thermodynamics for arbitrarily curved lipid membranes is presented here. The coupling between elastic bending and irreversible processes such as intramembrane lipid flow, intramembrane phase transitions, and protein binding and diffusion is studied. The forms of the entropy production for the irreversible processes are obtained, and the corresponding thermodynamic for...

Full analytical models of heat engines and refrigerators in linear irreversible thermodynamics can be defined by means of a chain of coupled heat devices. In this way it is possible to derive results and techniques of finite-time thermodynamics, like endoreversible efficiencies and the usual models of irreversible heat devices, in terms of an endoreversible energy converter plus a heat leak bet...

This paper describes general methodology that allows one to extend Carnot efficiency of classical thermodynamic for zero rate processes onto thermodynamic systems with finite rate. We define the class of minimal dissipation processes and show that it represents generalization of reversible processes and determines the limiting possibilities of finite rate systems. The described methodology is t...

The covariant Boltzmann equation for a relativistic gas mixture is used to formulate a theory of relativistic irreversible thermodynamics. The modified moment method is applied to derive various evolution equations for macroscopic variables from the covariant Boltzmann equation. The method rigorously yields the entropy differential which is not an exact differential if