STEAM TABLES

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Compressed liquid and saturated liquid
• Water at T < Tsat and P > Psat (e.g. 20oC and 1 atm)
exists in the liquid phase and is called a
compressed liquid, or a subcooled liquid, meaning
that it is not about to vaporise.

• When heat is transferred to the water, temperature

rises, the liquid water expands slightly increasing in
volume  its specific volume increases steadily.

• This happens at constant P, as P depends on

atmospheric pressure and weight of piston, where
the water is in and both are constant.
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• As more heat is transferred, the temperature keeps rising until it
reaches Tsat.
• At this point water is still a liquid, but any heat addition will cause some
of the liquid to vaporise i.e. a phase-change from liquid to vapour.
• A liquid that is about to vaporise is called a saturated liquid.

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 Saturated vapour and superheated vapour
• Once boiling starts, T stops rising until the liquid is
completely vaporised i.e. T remains constant during entire
phase-change process if the pressure is held constant.

• During a boiling process, the only change observed is a

large increase in volume and a steady decline in liquid
level as a result of more liquid turning to vapour.

• This means that specific volume increases dramatically.

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• As heat transfer continues, the vaporisation process
continues until the last drop of liquid is vaporised. At this
point, the entire cylinder is filled with vapour that is on the
borderline of the liquid phase.

• Any heat loss from this vapour will cause some of the
vapour to condense (phase change from vapour to liquid).

• A vapour that is about to condense is called a saturated

vapour.

• When liquid and vapour phases co-exist in equilibrium it is

called a saturated liquid–vapour mixture.
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• Once the phase-change process is completed, it is a single-phase
region (vapour) and further transfer of heat results in an increase in
both T and specific volume (T > Tsat; P < Psat).

• A vapour that is not about to condense (i.e. not a saturated vapour) is

called a superheated vapour.

• If the entire process is reversed by cooling the water while maintaining

P at same value, water will go back to state 1, re-tracing the same path
and in so doing, the amount of heat released will exactly match the
amount of heat added during the heating process.

• In our daily life, ‘water’ implies liquid water and ‘steam’ implies water
vapour.

• However, in Thermodynamics, both water and steam usually mean

only one thing: H2O.
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 Saturation T and saturation P
• T at which water starts boiling depends on P; therefore, if the pressure
is fixed, so is the boiling T.

• At a given P, T at which a pure substance changes phase is called the

saturation temperature (Tsat).

• Likewise, at a given T, P at which a pure substance changes phase is

called the saturation pressure (Psat).

• At P = 101.325 kPa, Tsat is 100°C

• Conversely, at T = 100°C, Psat is 101.325 kPa

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• This is the concept used to investigate state of a substance given T and P.
• A plot of Tsat vs Psat is called a liquid–vapour saturation curve.

• Tsat increases with Psat i.e. a substance at higher pressures boils at

higher temperatures.

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Example
A rigid tank contains 50 kg of saturated liquid water at 90°C. Determine the
pressure in the tank and the volume of the tank

Solution:
Since saturation conditions exist in the tank, the pressure must be the
saturation pressure at 90°C:
P = Psat@90oC = 70.11kPa (from saturated steam tables)

Specific volume of saturated liquid at 90°C is:

v = vfsat@90oC = 1.036 cm3/g = 0.001036 m3/kg

Then total volume of tank becomes:

𝑉 = 𝑚𝑣 = 50𝑥0.001036 = 0.0518𝑚3
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Example
A rigid tank contains 50 kg of water at 90°C. If 30 kg of the
water is in the liquid form and the rest is in the vapour form,
determine:
(a) the pressure in the tank and
(b) the volume of the tank

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Solution:
a. Since the two phases coexist in equilibrium, it is a saturated mixture
and P must be Psat at given T:
P = Psat@90oC = 70.11kPa (from saturated steam tables)

b. At 90°C, vf = 0.001036 m3/kg and vg = 2.3613 m3/kg (Steam tables)

One way of finding the volume of the tank is to determine the volume
occupied by each phase and then add them:
𝑉 = 𝑉𝑓 + 𝑉𝑔
= 𝑚𝑓 𝑣𝑓 + 𝑚𝑔 𝑣𝑔
= 30 0.001036 + 20 2.3613
= 0.03108 + 47.226

𝑉 = 47.25708 𝑚3
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Another way is to first determine the quality x, then the average specific
volume v, and finally the total volume:
𝑚𝑔 20
𝑥= = = 0.4
𝑚𝑡 50

𝑣 = 𝑣𝑓 + 𝑥𝑣𝑓𝑔

𝑣 = 0.001036 + 0.4 2.3613 − 0.001036

𝑣 = 0.9451416𝑚3 𝑘𝑔−1 and𝑉 = 𝑚𝑣 = 50 0.9451416 = 47.25708𝑚3

• First method appears to be easier in this case since the masses of each phase
are given
• In most cases, however, the masses of each phase are not available and the
second method becomes more convenient

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Example
A mass of 200 g of saturated liquid water is completely vaporised at a constant
pressure of 101.325 kPa. Determine:
(a) the volume change and
(b) the amount of energy transferred to the water

Solution:
a. The volume change per unit mass during a vaporisation process is vfg, which
is the difference between vgand vf
From Steam tables at 100 kPa:
Vf= 0.001044 m3/kg and vg = 1.673 m3/kg

∆𝑉 = 𝑚𝑣𝑓𝑔 = 0.2(1.673 − 0.001044)

∆𝑉 = 0.3343912𝑚3

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b. The amount of energy needed to vaporise a unit mass of a substance
at a given pressure is the enthalpy of vaporisation (Hfg) at that
pressure

From Steam tables, Hfg = 2569kJ/kg for water at 101.325 kPa.

Thus, the amount of energy transferred is:

𝑚𝐻𝑓𝑔 = 0.2 2569 = 513.8 𝑘𝐽

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Example
Determine the missing properties and the phase descriptions in the
following table for water:

T (oC) P (kPa) U (kJ/kg) x Phase

(a) 200 0.6
(b) 125 1600
(c) 1000 2950
(d) 75 500
(e) 850 0

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Solution
(a) The quality is given to be x = 0.6, which implies that 60% of the mass is
in vapour phase and 40% is in liquid phase

This is a saturated liquid–vapour mixture at P = 200 kPa

Then T must be Tsat at given pressure:

T = Tsat@200kPa 120oC
Also Uf  503.5 kJ/kg and Ufg  2025.4 kJ/kg

Then the average internal energy of the mixture is:

𝑈 = 𝑈𝑓 + 𝑥𝑈𝑓𝑔 = 503.5 + 0.6(2025.4)
𝑈 = 1718.74 𝑘𝐽/𝑘𝑔

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b. T and U are given, but there is no information about phase i.e. it could be
saturated mixture, compressed liquid, or superheated vapour.
To determine the region determine Uf&Ug values at givenT (125°C): Uf=
529 kJ/kg &Ug = 2535.3 kJ/kg.

Compare given U value to these UfandUg values, keeping in mind that:

• If U <Uf compressed liquid
• If Uf< U <Ug saturation mixture
• If U >Ug superheated vapour

In this case the given U value is 1600, which falls between UfUg values at 125°C.
Therefore it is a saturated liquid–vapour mixture.
Then P must be Psatat given T:

P = Psat@125oC = 239.33kPa
𝑈 − 𝑈𝑓 1600 − 529
𝑥= = = 0.534
𝑈𝑓𝑔 2535.3 − 529

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The criteria above for determining whether it is a compressed liquid,
saturated mixture or superheated vapour can also be used when
enthalpy H or specific volume v is given instead of internal energy U, or
when pressure is given instead of temperature

For Psat:
If T < Tsat  compressed liquid
If T = Tsat  saturation mixture
If T > Tsat  superheated vapour

For Tsat:
If P > Psat  compressed liquid
If P = Psat  saturation mixture
If P < Psat  superheated vapour

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Example
Determine the phase of water under the following conditions:
a. T = 250oC; P = 400kPa
b. T = 110oC; P = 600kPa
c. T = 80oC; P = 30kPa
d. T = 80oC; P = 600kPa

Solution:
a. From steam tables: P at Tsat(250oC) = 3977.6kPa. P < Psat  superheated steam
b. From steam tables: P at Tsat(110oC) = 143.27kPa. P > Psat  compressed liquid

c. From steam tables: P at Tsat(80oC) = 47.38 kPa. P < Psat  superheated vapour
d. From steam tables: P at Tsat(80oC) = 47.38kPa. P > Psat  compressed liquid

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