An online tool for facilitating thermodynamic property lookups

Property lookups are a critical element of undergraduate engineering thermodynamics courses. A student focus on the process of property lookups, however, can serve to obfuscate higher level learning objectives and analysis. We discuss application of PYroMat, an open-source, Python-based thermodynamic lookup package, to simplify property lookups and enable students to focus on deeper investigation of core concepts. While PYroMat has previously been reported as a classroom tool, the present study reports on development of a set of online calculators based on the PYroMat package to eliminate the need for students to learn programming skills alongside the thermodynamics content. Results from a survey indicate potential for the tool, but interpretations are somewhat limited by a small sample size. We believe that dissemination of these tools have the potential to facilitate student learning and encourage exploration of thermodynamics concepts.