1 - Extreme Energy Dissipation

Abstract

The maximum energy dissipation related to maximum entropy production hypothesis has been revised in terms of the pure variational approach and the Pontryagin maximum principle in optimal control. The minimization functional is chosen in the form of a sum of the positively defined thermodynamic potential and positively defined dissipation function. In terms of physical dimensions, such a formulation corresponds to the least action principle. In this respect, the Ziegler principle of achieving the maximum energy dissipation rate can be interpreted as coinciding with the least action principle. The least action principle, in such a sense, is a methodological principle according to which the physical and chemical processes in a system are directed to the extremely fast elimination of the physical nonequilibrium, as far as the structural variety of the system and kinetical mechanisms dependent on it allow. Free energy, which is an energetical measure of how far a system is removed from its equilibrium, achieves its minimum in the way that minimizes the area under the dissipation curve—the physical action of the dissipative process. The costate variables, or thermodynamic momenta, could be interpreted as the marginal energetical dissipative losses for the partial alteration of the dissipative mechanisms from optimal (maximal) processes.