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Vm235: Thermodynamics
Homework 3
Assigned Tues May 31, 2016; Due Tues Jun 7 at the start of class

Project: Water Properties

This project will help you gain experience working
with X Steam for Matlab to determine water and
steam properties without relying on cumbersome linear
interpolation of tabulated values.
X Steam for Matlab is an implementation of the 1997
IAPWS formulation for the thermodynamic properties
of water and steam in industrial use [1]. (IAPWS stands
for the International Association for the Properties of
Water and Steam [2].) The m-files may be downloaded from the file exchange at Matlab Central [3];
the XSteam.m file accepts and returns arguments in SI
units, whereas XSteamUS.m is based on the English
units. The download includes a help manual, X Steam
for Matlab.pdf, for your reference.
1) To get you acquainted with the software implementation, use X Steam to construct the P -v and
T -v diagrams for water. Prepare two versions of
each diagram, plotting the specific volume v in the
linear scale and the logarithmic scale, respectively.
Be sure to show the vapor dome (saturated liquid
and vapor lines). Also show two isotherms on
the P -v diagram and two isobars on the T -v
diagram, with one of each passing through the
vapor dome (subcritical) and the other passing
over the vapor dome (supercritical). (You may start
with XSteamPvDome.m available on Sakai.)
Is water vapor an ideal gas?
2) Determine the specific volumes of
a) steam at 11.7 MPa, 560 C (State (a)), typical
of high-pressure steam turbine inlet condition, and
b) steam at 2.6 MPa, 558 C (State (b)), typical
of high-pressure steam turbine exit condition,
using (i) the ideal-gas equation and (ii) the generalized compressibility chart (textbook Figure A15).
Also determine the errors involved as compared to
the results obtained from the IAPWS-97 formulation (using X Steam for Matlab).

Is liquid water incompressible?

3) How much error would result in calculating the
specific volume and internal energy of water at
12.7 MPa, 150 C (State (c), typical of highpressure feedwater in a steam power plant) using the incompressible-liquid approximation? (as
compared to the properties determined from the
IAPWS-97 formulation)
Mark and label States (a)(c) on the previouslyconstructed P -v and T -v diagrams.
Homework
These problems should be completed according to the
solution format posted on the course website.
1) Pressure cooker from HW1, revisited. A small
opening (area A = 4 mm2 ) on its lid is covered
with a petcock (mass m = 40.8 g) that can be lifted
to let steam (pressure p = 100 kPa gage) escape.
We have the lid screwed on tight otherwise. The
outside atmosphere is taken to be at 101 kPa. At
what temperature (in C) does boiling take place
in this pressure cooker?
2) A 3.48 L rigid tank contains 2 kg of saturated
liquidvapor mixture of water at 50 C. The water
is now slowly heated until it exists in a single
phase.
a) At the final state, will the water be in the
liquid phase or the vapor phase? Calculate
the heat transfer and the work done during
this process, in kJ.
The solution is provided below without annotations and other essential elements of a
complete Vm235 homework solution. Please
reproduce (i.e., copy) the partial solution
below and complete it by incorporating in it
your answers to (i)(vi).
b) What would be your answers (phase, heat
transfer, work done) if the volume of the tank
were 348 L instead of 3.48 L?
(Adapted from textbook, P3116 in the 7th ed)

3) Water vapor condensation. Saturated water vapor

at 200 C is isothermally condensed to a saturated
liquid in a pistoncylinder device. Calculate the
heat transfer and the work done during this process, in kJ/kg. Answer: 1940 kJ/kg, 196 kJ/kg.
(Textbook, P431, 7th ed)
4) A piston-cylinder contains 0.003 g of air at
120 kPa and 40 C. The piston is then compressed
at constant pressure so that the volume of air is half
the original value. Determine the final temperature,
final volume, and work required for this process.
Answer: 1.12 cm3 , 0.135 J (P6-2 [4])
Recitation
These problems may be discussed during the recitation
session. Do not turn them in.
1) A rigid tank contains an ideal gas at 300 kPa and
600 K. Now half of the gas is withdrawn from the
tank and the gas is found at 100 kPa at the end
of the process. Determine (a) the final temperature
of the gas and (b) the final pressure if no mass
was withdrawn from the tank and the same final
temperature was reached at the end of the process.
(Textbook, P322, 6th ed.)
2) A mass of 0.2 kg of saturated refrigerant-134a is
contained in a piston-cylinder device at 200 kPa.
Initially, 75 percent of the mass is in the liquid
phase. Now heat is transferred to the refrigerant
at constant pressure until the cylinder contains
vapors only. Show the process on a P v diagram
with respect to saturation lines. Determine (a) the
volume occupied by the refrigerant initially, (b)
the work done, and (c) the total heat transfer.
(Textbook, P418, 6th ed.)

3) On the property diagrams specified below, sketch

(not necessarily to scale) with respect to the saturated liquid and saturated vapor lines and label
the following processes and states for refrigerant134a. Use arrows to indicate the direction of the
process, and label the initial and final states:
a) On the P v diagram sketch the constant
temperature process through the state
P = 280 kPa, v = 0.06 m3 /kg

as pressure changes from P1 = 400 kPa

to P2 = 200 kPa. Place the value of the
temperature on the process curve on the P v
diagram.
b) On the T v diagram sketch the constant
specific volume process through the state
T = 20 C, v = 0.02 m3 /kg

from P1 = 1200 kPa to P2 = 300 kPa. For

this data set place the temperature values at
states 1 and 2 on its axis. Place the value of
the specific volume on its axis.
(Textbook, P333, 6th ed.)
R EFERENCES
[1] W. Wagner et al., The IAPWS industrial formulation 1997 for
the thermodynamic properties of water and steam, J. Eng. Gas
Turbines Power, vol. 122, pp. 150182, Jan. 2000. Available:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.483186
[2] The International Association for the Properties of Water and
Steam, accessed Sept. 23, 2012. Available: http://www.iapws.org
[3] M. Holmgren, X Steam, Thermodynamic Properties of Water
and Steam, Matlab Central File Exchange, File ID: #9817,
Aug. 2007. Available: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/
fileexchange/9817
[4] K. C. Rolle, Thermodynamics and Heat Power, 6th ed. Pearson
Prentice Hall, 2005.

Partial solution to textbook problem P3116 (7th ed.)

Reproduce (i.e., copy) the partial solution below and
complete it by incorporating in it your answers to
(i)(vi).
A rigid tank of two-phase (liquid + vapor) water is heated
to a single phase.
(i. Sketch setup, sys. boundary, and show transfers)
v2 = v1 = (3.48 103 m3 )/(2 kg)
= 0.00174 m3 /kg

(ii. Explain why v2 = v1 )

Therefore, water is in the liquid phase at the final state.
(iii. Explain how we arrive at this conclusion)
(iv. Sketch process path on an appropriate thermodynamic plane)
work, w = 0
(v. Explain why w = 0)
The energy balance E = Qin Wout therefore reduces
to
m(u2 u1 ) = Qin
(vi. List the assumption that reduces E to m(u2 u1 ))
To determine internal energy u1 , we first determine
quality
v1 vf
(0.00174 0.001012) m3 /kg
=
vf g
(12.026 0.001012) m3 /kg
= 6.05 105 0

x1 =

u1 = (1 x1 )uf + x1 ug uf = 209.33 kJ/kg

Meanwhile, final state internal energy

u2 = uf

(at v2 = vf = 0.00174 m3 /kg)

= 1642.4 kJ/kg

Therefore,
Qin = 2 kg (1642.4 209.33) kJ/kg = 2870 kJ