Clausius Statement of Second Law of Thermodynamics: A Review and Engineering Perspective of the Law

Abstract

In this paper, the different forms of the Clausius statement of second law of thermodynamics presented by various authors have been critically reviewed and compared with the original statement of Clausius to identify the variations. The notable deviations from the original Clausius statement have been found regarding the conditions and constraints for applicability of this law, which can be of great concern for engineers. It has been found that the original statement has no ambiguity and it addresses all the issues relating to heat transfer between cold and hot bodies and hence it has been concluded that the original Clausius statement of the law must be always stated verbatim. Since the engineers regard two-way radiation heat transmission for net heat transfer calculation, i.e., from hot to the cold as well as from cold to the hot body, the law has been reviewed from a heat transfer engineer's point of view for the radiation heat transfer and modification in the original Clausius statement or inclusion of an explanation has been suggested for the sake of clarity or to avoid any ambiguity.