1

1
1.1

Procedure for Evaluating Fluid Properties of Humid Air

Introduction

The eects of typical atmospheric humidity levels on compressor performance can range from insignicant to several percent, depending on the level of relative humidity and the ambient temperature. For a 100 F day with 95% relative humidity and standard pressure (14.696 psia), the density of dry air is 2.4% greater than the humid air. Additionally, the value of the specic heat of dry air is 3.4% lower than that of the humid air. For the same conditions but at 40% relative humidity, these deviations decrease to 1.0% and 1.4% respectively. The errors in the specic heat associated with assuming dry air will produce approximately the same level of error in the calculated head rise (and power) of the compressor. For installations at higher altitude and hence lower ambient pressures, these errors will increase relative to the quantities at standard pressure. The two most common quantiers used to express level of humidity present in the air are the absolute humidity ratio and the relative humidity ratio. The absolute humidity ratio, denoted by the symbol , is dened as the mass of water in a given volume of air divided by the mass of air in that same volume: mH2 O mair (1)

The relative humidity ratio, , is dened as the ratio of the mass of water in a given volume of air to the maximum (saturated) level of water mass which can be sustained without condensation: m H2 O msat,H2 O@Tmix (2)

By virtue of the denition of the relative humidity, the relative humidity provides a much more direct indication of weather (i.e. probability for precipitation) and human comfort. The relative humidity is also more directly measurable than the absolute humidity. For these reasons, the relative humidity ratio is much more widely used than the absolute humidity ratio. However, for many engineering applications the relative humidity ratio is, by itself, not a very useful quantity since the value of the relative humidity shifts with changes in air temperature even though the actual mass fraction of water remains xed (unless condensation occurs). For engineering applications where the gas mixture properties need to be known over a range of process temperatures, the absolute humidity is a more directly applicable quantity since it establishes the composition of the mixture. The absolute humidity also will not change with changes in the gas mixture temperature, provided that the temperature never drops below the saturation temperature thereby leading to condensation.

1.2

Calculation Procedure

The procedure used to calculate the properties of air with at a specied temperature, pressure and relative humidity can be broken down to 4 main steps. These steps require the use of a uid property database software, such as Refprop, in order to evaluate the saturation pressure of water as a function of temperature. Saturation property tables (or subsequent curve ts) could be used in place of a software package. The steps to this procedure are as follows: 1. Calculate the absolute humidity from the temperature, pressure and relative humidity of the air/water mixture. 2. Calculate the mass and mole fractions of the constituents of the air/water mixture. 3. Evaluate the properties of each constituent using the respective partial pressures and the temperature of the mixture. 4. Combine the individual component properties to determine the composite properties of the mixture. Each of these steps will now be discussed in more detail. A subsequent section will illustrate the usage of these steps by example.

Accounting For Humidity In Air

1.2.1

Calculating the absolute humidity from the relative humidity

Since a vast amount of tabulated as well as software based data is available for the mixture of gasses referred to as air, it is convenient to treat air as a pseudo pure uid, having a single eective molecular weight and resultant gas constant. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) uses an air mixture model with the following constituents and their respective mole (mass) fractions: N itrogen (N2 ) Oxygen (O2 ) Argon (Ar) = = = 0.7812 (0.7557) 0.2096 (0.2316) 0.0092 (0.0127) (3) (4) (5)

This composition results in an eective molecular weight of 28.959 lbm /lbmol , which can then be used to calculate f t lb an eective gas constant for air of 53.33 lbm f . When humidity is added to the mixture, the notion of the pseudo R uid air can be extended further to include the calculation of mass and mole fractions of air relative to the mass and mole fractions of water. Composite properties of gas mixtures which obey the ideal gas law can be evaluated using the partial pressures of each component in the gas mixture. The partial pressure of a gas mixture component is the pressure of the individual component at the same volume and temperature of the composite mixture. Daltons law of additive pressures for gas mixtures states that[1]: The pressure of a gas mixture is equal to the sum of the pressures each gas would exert if it existed alone at the mixture temperature and volume. In essence, Daltons law states that if each of the mixture components is evaluated at their respective partial pressure and the temperature of the mixture (which xes the thermodynamic state of the gas component since two independent properties are specied), then the composite properties of the mixture can be determined by appropriately summing (i.e. mass or mole weighted) the individual properties. For humid air, Daltons law becomes: Pmix = Ppartial,air + Ppartial,H2 O (6) The absolute humidity ratio can be expressed in terms of partial pressures of air and water by use of the ideal gas law: mH2 O Ppartial,H2 O Ppartial,H2 O V /(RH2 O Tmix ) = 0.622 = (7) mair Ppartial,air V /(Rair Tmix ) Ppartial,air Likewise, for the relative humidity ratio: = Ppartial,H2 O Psat,H2 O@Tmix (8)

Solving Eqn. (6) for Ppartial,air and substituting the result into Eqn. (7) gives: = 0.622Ppartial,H2 O Pmix Ppartial,H2 O (9)

Finally, the absolute humidity ratio can be expressed in terms of the mixture pressure, the saturation (vapor) pressure of water evaluated at Tmix , and the relative humidity by solving Eqn. (8) for Ppartial,H2 O , and substituting the result into Eqn. (9) to give: = 0.622Psat,H2 O@Tmix Pmix Psat,H2 O@Tmix (10)

In the solution of Eqn. (10), Pmix , Tmix and the relative humidity, , are assumed to be known. The saturation (vapor) pressure of water at Tmix can be determined from steam tables, or a uid property software package such as Refprop.

Accounting For Humidity In Air

1.2.2

Calculating the mass and mole fractions of the mixture

In order to determine the mass and mole fractions of the humid air, an arbitrary mass is assigned to the dry air of one mass unit. For this sample, total mass of the humid air will then be the mass of the dry air plus the mass of the water in the air. This gives: SampleM ass = 1 mass unit + (1 mass unit) = 1 + mass units (11)

The mass fraction of the pseudo uid air, mf,air is then determined by taking the mass of the air (assigned a value of 1), and dividing by the total mass of the sample: mf,air = Similarly for water, mf,H2 O = 1 1+ 1+ (12)

(13)

To calculate the mole fractions, the total number of moles in the sample are rst computed by dividing the mass fractions by the molecular weight of each respective component, and then summing the results: SampleM oles = mf,H2 O mf,H2 O mf,air mf,air + + = M Wair M W H2 O 28.959 18.015 (14)

The individual mole fractions, yi , are then calculated by taking the individual mole count of each component and dividing by the total mole count of the sample: yair =
mf,air M Wair mf,H2 O mf,air M Wair + M WH2 O mf,H2 O M W H2 O mf,H2 O mf,air M Wair + M WH2 O

1 1+
M Wair M W H2 O

(15)

yH2 O

= +

M WH2 O M Wair

(16)

1.2.3

Evaluating the individual properties of air and water in the mixture

According to Daltons theory, each gas in a mixture of a certain volume will tend to behave the same as if it were the only gas present in that volume and at the mixture temperature. Since two independent intrinsic properties are needed to completely specify the thermodynamic state of the gas, another property, in addition to the known mixture temperature, must rst be determined. The easiest additional property to establish is the component partial pressure, which is simply calculated by multiplying the individual component mole fractions by the total pressure of the mixture. That is: Ppartial,air Ppartial,H2 O = yair Pmix = yH2 O Pmix (17) (18)

With the partial pressures of both the water and the dry air known, other thermodynamic properties of interest, such as density, can now be calculated using an ideal gas model for both components, or by using a uid property software package as appropriate. 1.2.4 Determination of composite mixture properties

The determination of how to sum each thermodynamic property should be considered on a case by case basis, however, generally volume specic properties, such as density, can be added directly (since all components occupy

Accounting For Humidity In Air

the same volume) while mass specic properties, such as enthalpy (h), entropy(s) and specic heats (Cp , Cv ) will need to be mass averaged. Yet other properties, such as pressure, Cp and Cv , must use mole weighted averaging. mix hmix smix Cp,mix Cv,mix = air@P =Ppartial + H2 O@P =Ppartial = = = = (mf,air )(hair@P =Ppartial ) (mf,air )(sair@P =Ppartial ) + (mf,H2 O )(hH2 O@P =Ppartial ) + (mf,H2 O )(sH2 O@P =Ppartial ) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23)

(mf,air )(Cp,air@P =Ppartial ) + (mf,H2 O )(Cp,H2 O@P =Ppartial ) (mf,air )(Cv,air@P =Ppartial ) + (mf,H2 O )(Cv,H2 O@P =Ppartial )

1.3

Calculation Procedure Example

As an example, consider a 100 F day with 95% relative humidity and 12.2 psia ambient pressure. Suppose that calculations are to be made for a compressor operating with these inlet conditions, and thus the uid properties of the humid air need to be evaluated. As was outlined previously, the rst step in this process is to determine the absolute humidity. The absolute humidity is determined from Eqn. (10), which in addition to the inputs already given, requires a knowledge of the saturation pressure of water evaluated at 100 F . Using steam tables, or a uid property software program, Psat,H2 O@Tmix is determined to be 0.9505 psia. Substituting the appropriate values into Eqn. (10) gives: = 0.622(.95)(0.9505) 0.622Psat,H2 O@Tmix = = 0.050 Pmix Psat,H2 O@Tmix 12.2 (.95)(0.9505)

The mass fractions of the air and water are next calculated directly from Eqns. (12) and (13). Likewise the mole fractions are determined from Eqns. (15) and (16): mf,air mf,H2 O yair yH2 O = = = = + 1 1 = = 0.9524 1+ 1 + 0.05 0.05 = = 0.0476 1+ 1 + 0.05 1 1 = = 0.9256 M Wair 1 + 28.959 (0.05) 1 + M WH O 18.015
2

M W H2 O M Wair

0.05 = 0.0744 0.05 + 18.015 28.959

The partial pressures are next calculated by multiplying the respective mole fractions with the mixture pressure: Ppartial,air Ppartial,H2 O = yair Pmix = (0.9256)(12.2) = 11.29 psia = yH2 O Pmix = (0.0744)(12.2) = 0.91 psia 1.986
BT U BT U f t lbf lbmol R = 0.0686 = 53.33 lbm lbm R lbm R 28.959 lbmol BT 1.986 lbmol U R BT U f t lbf = 0.1102 = 85.73 lbm lbm R lbm R 18.015 lbmol

The gas constants for air and water vapor are calculated as follows: Rair RH2 O = Ru /M Wair =

= Ru /M WH2 O =

From the ideal gas law, the density of the air and water vapor components can now be determined. Converting lb pressures into f tf and temperatures into R yields: 2 air@P =Ppartial = H2 O@P =Ppartial P (11.29)(144) = = 0.0545lbm/f t3 RT (53.33)(100 + 459.67) P (0.91)(144) = = = 0.0027lbm/f t3 RT (85.73)(100 + 459.67)

mix = air@P =Ppartial + H2 O@P =Ppartial = 0.0572lbm/f t3

Accounting For Humidity In Air

The mixture value of the specic heat at constant pressure, Cp is important to know for calculations of compressor head rise and power. This quantity can be determined by taking a mass average of the component specic heats. Cp,mix = mf,air Cp,air + mf,H2 O Cp,H2 O = (0.9524)(0.240) BT U BT U BT U + (0.0476)(0.446) = 0.250 lbm R lbm R lbm R

If dry air were assumed for the given conditions, the density would be 0.0589 lbm /f t3 , and the specic heat BT U would have a value of 0.240 lbm R . These values dier by 3.0% and 4.0% respectively. Thus for this case, if humidity in the air were not accounted for, the compressor mass ow rates would be in error by 3.0%, and the compressor head would be in error by 4.0%.

Accounting For Humidity In Air

References
[1] Y. A. Cengel & M. A. Boles, Thermodynamics - An Engineering Approach, McGraw-Hill Inc., 1994, pp 665-695.