E- 1

Appendix E

Properties of water
E.1 Introduction
In order to calculate the heat transfer of the water experimentally it is necessary
to calculate the properties of water. These properties can be read from tables but
since so many properties must be obtained at different conditions an easier method
was necessary. It was decided to do a line fit through the property conditions and
therefore get an equation for each different property at different conditions.

E.2 Obtaining equations for properties

Table E.1 shows the data, which was obtained from Incropera E . 1 and plotted
on graphs.
Table E.1. Properties of water at different temperatures.

T
[K ]
273.15
275
280
285
290
295
300
305
310
315
320
325
330
335
340
345
350
355
360
365
370
373.15
375
380
385
390

[kg m3 ]

Cp
[ J kg. K ]

[10 6 N . s m2 ]

[103 W m. K ]

Pr
[ ]

1000.0
1000.0
1000.0
1000.0
999.0
998.0
997.0
995.0
993.0
991.1
989.1
987.2
984.3
982.3
979.4
976.6
973.7
970.9
967.1
963.4
960.6
957.9
956.9
953.3
949.7
945.2

4217
4211
4198
4189
4184
4181
4179
4178
4178
4179
4180
4182
4184
4186
4188
4191
4195
4199
4203
4209
4214
4217
4220
4226
4232
4239

1750
1652
1422
1225
1080
959
855
769
695
631
577
528
489
453
420
389
365
343
324
306
289
279
274
260
248
237

569
574
582
590
598
606
613
620
628
634
640
645
650
656
660
668
668
671
674
677
679
680
681
683
685
686

12.99
12.22
10.26
8.81
7.56
6.62
5.83
5.2
4.62
4.16
3.77
3.42
3.15
2.88
2.66
2.45
2.29
2.14
2.02
1.91
1.8
1.76
1.7
1.61
1.53
1.47

E- 2

1000

Density [kg/m 3 ]

990

980

970

960

950

940
250

275

300

325

350

375

400

Temperature [K]

Graph E.1. Density of water at different temperatures.

Specific heat at constant pressure [J/kg.K]

4250
4240
4230
4220
4210
4200
4190
4180
4170
250

275

300

325

350

375

400

Temperature [K]

Graph E.2. Specific heat at constant pressure of water at different temperatures.

E- 3

2000
1800
Viscosity [10 -6 N.s/m 2 ]

1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
250

275

300

325

350

375

400

Temperature [K]

Graph E.3. Viscosity of water at different temperatures.

Thermal conductivity

[10 -3

W/m.K]

700

675

650

625

600

575

550
250

275

300

325

350

375

400

Temperature [K]

Graph E.4. Thermal conductivity of water at different temperatures.

E- 4

14
12

Prandtl number

10
8
6
4
2
0
250

275

300

325

350

375

400

Temperature [K]

Graph E.5. Prandtl number of water at different temperatures.

Equations for the different properties of water are obtained by fitting trendlines
through the different points. The equations obtained are given below in the order of
density, specific heat at constant pressure, viscosity, thermal conductivity and Prandtl
number. In each case the x represents the temperature and the y the specific property.
y
y
y
y
y

=
=
=
=
=

- 7E- 11x 6 + 1E- 07x 5 - 0.0001x 4 + 0.0534x 3 - 13.5x 2 + 1818.6x - 100944

2E- 10x 6 - 5E- 07x 5 + 0.0004x 4 - 0.2075x 3 + 54.956x 2 - 7742.6x + 457643
2E- 09x 6 - 5E- 06x 5 + 0.0044x 4 - 2.0519x3 + 534.05x 2 - 74221x + 4E+06
- 1E- 10x 6 + 2E- 07x 5 - 0.0002x 4 + 0.078x 3 - 19.804x 2 + 2668.4x 148849
2E- 11x 6 - 4E- 08x 5 + 4E- 05x 4 - 0.0172x 3 + 4.4936x 2 - 626.19x + 36425

From the equations above the coefficients are not given very accurately.
Therefore another function in Microsoft Excel is needed to obtain these coefficients.
The function is LINEST and does the same procedure as the trendline fit but gives
more accurate results. The general equation with the coefficients is given in Eq. E.1
and the results in Table E.2.
y = C6x 6 + C5x 5 + C4x 4 + C3x 3 + C2x 2 + C1x + C0

(E.1)

Table E.2. Coefficients of trendlines calculated with LINEST function.

Cp

k
Pr

C6

C5

C4

C3

C2

-6.8848E-11

1.4008E-07

2.8410E-10

-5.9969E-07

C1

C0

-1.1852E-04

5.3376E-02

5.2619E-04

-2.4565E-01

-1.3500E+01

1.8186E+03

-1.0094E+05

6.4368E+01

-8.9769E+03

5.2488E+05

2.9875E-09

-6.1708E-06

5.3083E-03

-2.4352E+00

6.2858E+02

-8.6619E+04

4.9827E+06

-1.1756E-10

2.4140E-07

-2.0541E-04

9.2716E-02

-2.3422E+01

3.1429E+03

-1.7470E+05

2.4859E-11

-5.1485E-08

4.4407E-05

-2.0424E-02

5.2852E+00

-7.3000E+02

4.2080E+04

E- 5
The percentage difference to the properties obtained with the LINEST
trendlines and the original tables is obtained by calculating the difference between the
calculated value and the tabulated value and divided by the correct tabulated value as
a percentage. The average difference as well as the maximum difference is given in
Table E.3.
Table E.3. Differences between tabulated values and LINEST trendline.

Cp

k
Pr

Average
difference

Maximum
difference

[%]
0.019%
0.006%

[%]
0.050%
0.012%

Temperature
where maximum
difference occur
[K]
365
360

0.221%
0.077%
0.280%

0.534%
0.477%
1.114%

335
345
373.15

As a final check the different equations of the properties is used to calculate the
Prandtl number according to Eq. E.2 and compared to the tabulated value. This
results in an average difference of 0.353% with a maximum difference of 1.576% at
373.15K.
Pr =

Cp
k

(E.2)

From literatureE . 2 it was founded that more accurate equations exist since the
data used for the calculation was obtained from more accurate and complete
internationally accepted steam tables. These equations for the properties of water are
listed below (Eq. E.3. E.8.) and the uncertainty of each equation in Table E.4. All
temperatures in degrees Celsius and not in degrees Kelvin.

= 999.79684 + 0.068317355 T 0.010740248 T 2 + 0.00082140905 T 2. 5

2.3030988 10 5 T 3

(E.3)

h = 2.844699 10 2 + 4.211925 T 1.017034 10 3 T 2 + 1.311054 10 5 T 3

6.756469 10 8 T 4 + 1724481
.
10 10 T 5
(E.4)
C p = 4.2174356 0.0056181625 T + 0.0012992528 T 1.5
0.00011535353 T 2 + 4.14964 10 6 T 2. 5
=

1
557.82468 + 19.408782 T + 01360459
.
T 2 3.1160832 10 4 T 3

(E.5)

(E.6)

E- 6

k = 0.5650285 + 0.0026363895 T 0.00012516934 T 1.5

151549180
.
10 6 T 2 0.0009412945 T 0.5
Pr =

(E.7)

1
0.074763403 + 0.0029020983 T + 2.8606181 10 5 T 2 81395537
.
108 T 3
(E.8)
Table E.4. Uncertainties of equations E.3. to E.8.

0.001% - 0.003%
0.057%
0.04%

h
Cp

1%
2%
2.3%

k
Pr

Therefore Eq. E.3. E.8 are used to calculate the properties of water in the
interpretation of the experimental results.

E.3 Nomenclature
Cp

specific heat at constant pressure [ J kg. K ]

h
k
Pr
x
y

enthalpy [ kJ kg]
thermal conductivity [W m. K ]
Prandtl number [ ]
temperature at which property of water is determined [K]
specific property of water

Greek symbols

dynamic viscosity [ N . s m2 ]
density [kg m3 ]

E.4 References
E.1. Incropera FP & DeWitt DP. Introduction to Heat Transfer, 3rd ed., John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, USA 1996.
E.2. Popiel CO & Wojtkowiak J. Simple Formulas for Thermophysical Properties of
Liquid Water for Heat Transfer Calculations (from 0o C to 150 o C), Heat Transfer
Engineering, 1998, 19, 87- 101.