The efficiency of cycles of finite period (Q1111792)

The author continues [see: A commentary on thermodynamics (1988; Zbl 0647.73001)] his precise and detailed studies on the efficiency of thermodynamic cycles for a one-dimensional thermoelastic body. The goal is to delimit the validity of classical results, on the one hand, and on the other hand, to enrich our knowledge of the effects on efficiency of inertia, heat conduction, etc. or of drastic approximations, such as linearisation. Here the assumption of quasi-staticity is abandoned within the context of linearized thermoelasticity. The main result is as follows: for certain bodies the efficiency in cycles of finite period can be made as close to the classical upper bound as we please, but, in order to make the efficiency infinitesimally close to that bound, it is necessary that the work done by the body be infinitesimally small.