Analytical description of thermodynamic properties of steam, water and the phase interface for use in CFD

Institute of Thermomechanics AS CR, v.v.i., Dolejškova 5, CZ-182 00 Prague 8, Czech Republic

^a Corresponding author: hruby@it.cas.cz

Published online: 25 March 2014

Abstract

We present a system of analytical equations for computation of all thermodynamic properties of dry steam and liquid water (undesaturated, saturated and metastable supersaturated) and properties of the liquid-vapor phase interface. The form of the equations is such that it enables computation of all thermodynamic properties for independent variables directly related to the balanced quantities - total mass, liquid mass, energy, momenta. This makes it suitable for the solvers of fluid dynamics equations in the conservative form. Thermodynamic properties of dry steam and liquid water are formulated in terms of special thermodynamic potentials and all properties are obtained as analytical derivatives. For the surface tension, the IAPWS formula is used. The interfacial internal energy is derived from the surface tension and it is used in the energy balance. Unlike common models, the present one provides real (contrary to perfect gas approximation) properties of steam and water and reflects the energetic effects due to the surface tension. The equations are based on re-fitting the reference formulation IAPWS-95 and selected experimental data. The mathematical structure of the equations is optimized for fast computation.