X STEAM FOR MATLAB

By Magnus Holmgren, www.x-eng.com

Date: 2006-01-20
By Magnus Holmgren, www.x-eng.com
The steam tables are free and provided as is.
We take no responsibilities for any errors in the code or damage thereby.
You are free to use, modify and distribute the code as long as authorship is properly acknowledged.
Please notify me at magnus@x-eng.com if the code is used in commercial applications

Conclusion
X Steam for Matlab is a implementation of the IAPWS IF97 standard formulation. It
provides accurate data for water and steam and mixtures of water and steam properties from
0 - 1000 bar and from 0 - 2000 deg C. It is programmed as a matlab .m file. XSteam are also
available for MS Excel or OpenOffice at www.x-eng.com.
The initial units of XSteam are SI units as denoted in this document. All functions however
call unit conversion functions so the units can be easily changed. A text file with unit
conversion functions for English units are enclosed with the file.
Calling syntax: XSteam(fun,In1.[In2])
XSteam take 2 or 3 arguments. The first argument must always be the steam table function
you want to use. The other arguments are the inputs to that function.

Example: XSteam('h_pt',1,20) Returns the enthalpy of water at 1 bar and 20 degC

Example: XSteam('TSat_p',1) Returns the saturation temperature of water at 1 bar.

For a list of valid Steam Table functions se section 3 or the XSteam macros for MS Excel.

Contents
1

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 2

USING THE MATLAB IMPLEMENTATION................................................ 2

XSTEAM CALLING FUNCTIONS .............................................................. 3

3.1

Temperature .............................................................................................. 3

3.2

Pressure .................................................................................................... 3

3.3

Enthalpy .................................................................................................... 3

3.4

Specific volume......................................................................................... 3

3.5

Density....................................................................................................... 3

3.6

Specific entropy........................................................................................ 3

3.7

Specific internal energy............................................................................ 4

3.8

Specific isobaric heat capacity ................................................................ 4

3.9

Specific isochoric heat capacity.............................................................. 4

3.10

Speed of sound......................................................................................... 4

3.11

Viscosity.................................................................................................... 4

3.12

Thermal Conductivity ............................................................................... 5

3.13

Surface Tension........................................................................................ 5

3.14

Vapour fraction ......................................................................................... 5

3.15

Vapour Volume Fraction........................................................................... 5

INTRODUCTION
X Steam for matlab is a implementation of the IAPWS IF97 standard formulation. It
provides accurate thermo hydraulic data for water and steam and mixtures of water and
steam in the region:

0C < temperature < 2000C for

0.00611 bar a < pressure < 100 bar a

0C < temperature < 1000C for

0.00611 bar a < pressure < 1000 bar a

For accuracy and further information on IAPWS IF97 formulation, se homepage of the
international association for properties of water and steam (www.iapws.org).

USING THE MATLAB IMPLEMENTATION

X Steam are available both for matlab and for MS excel. The MS Excel version can be
useful also for matlab users to get valid calling functions.
The XSteam code are used in the following way:

Out=XSteam(function name,In1,In2)

Function name are the name on the XSteam function and In1 and In2 are the inputs to that
function. The results are returned (in this case to Out).
Example: XSteam(rho_pT,1,200) returns the density at 1 bar and 200C.
Valid XSteam functions are listed in section 3. The notaions used in XSteam are listed in the
table bellow with the currently implemented.

Notation
T
p
h
v
rho
s
u
Cp
Cv
w
my
tc
st
x
vx

Quantity

Unit

Temperature
Pressure
Enthalpy
Specific volume
Density
Specific entropy
Specific internal energy
Specific isobaric heat capacity
Specific isochoric heat capacity
Speed of sound
Viscosity
Thermal Conductivity
Surface Tension
Vapour fraction (0-1)
Vapour Volume Fraction (0-1)

C
bar
kJ/kg
m3/kg
kg/ m3
kJ/(kg C)
kJ/kg
kJ/(kg C)
kJ/(kg C)
m/s
Pa s
W/(m C)
N/m
-

XSTEAM CALLING FUNCTIONS

3.1

Temperature
Function
Tsat_p
T_ph
T_ps
T_hs

3.2

3.3

3.4

H
S
S

Function
psat_T
p_hs

In1
T
h

p_hrho

rho

Out
Saturation temperature
Temperture as a function of pressure and enthalpy
Temperture as a function of pressure and entropy
Temperture as a function of enthalpy and entropy

In2

Function
hV_p
hL_p
hV_T
hL_T
h_pT
h_ps
h_px
h_Tx

In1
p
p
T
T
p
p
p
T

In2

h_prho

rho

Out
Saturation pressure
Pressure as a function of h and s.
Pressure as a function of h and rho (density).
Very unaccurate for solid water region since it's almost
incompressible!

Enthalpy

T
s
x
X

Out
Saturated vapour enthalpy
Saturated liquid enthalpy
Saturated vapour enthalpy
Saturated liquid enthalpy
Entalpy as a function of pressure and temperature.
Entalpy as a function of pressure and entropy.
Entalpy as a function of pressure and vapour fraction
Entalpy as a function of temperature and vapour fraction
Entalpy as a function of pressure and density. Observe for
low temperatures (liquid) this equation has 2 solutions.
(Not valid!!)

Specific volume
In1
p
p
T
T

In2

v_pT

v_ph
v_ps

p
p

h
s

In1
p
p
T
T
p
p
p

In2

Out
Saturated vapour volume
Saturated liquid volume
Saturated vapour volume
Saturated liquid volume
Specific volume as a function of pressure and
temperature.
Specific volume as a function of pressure and enthalpy
Specific volume as a function of pressure and entropy.

Density
Function
rhoV_p
rhoL_p
rhoV_T
rhoL_T
rho_pT
rho_ph
rho_ps

3.6

In2

Pressure

Function
vV_p
vL_p
vV_T
vL_T

3.5

In1
p
p
p
h

T
h
s

Out
Saturated vapour density
Saturated liquid density
Saturated vapour density
Saturated liquid density
Density as a function of pressure and temperature.
Density as a function of pressure and enthalpy
Density as a function of pressure and entropy.

Specific entropy
Function
sV_p
sL_p
sV_T
sL_T
s_pT
s_ph

In1
p
p
T
T

In2

Out
Saturated vapour entropy
Saturated liquid entropy
Saturated vapour entropy
Saturated liquid entropy
Specific entropy as a function of pressure and temperature
(Returns saturated vapour entalpy if mixture.)
Specific entropy as a function of pressure and enthalpy

3.7

Specific internal energy

Function
uV_p
uL_p
uV_T
uL_T
u_pT
u_ph
u_ps

3.8

Cp_pT
Cp_ph
Cp_ps

Cv_pT
Cv_ph
Cv_ps

In1
p
p
T
T

In2

Out
Saturated vapour heat capacity
Saturated liquid heat capacity
Saturated vapour heat capacity
Saturated liquid heat capacity
Specific isobaric heat capacity as a function of pressure
and temperature.
Specific isobaric heat capacity as a function of pressure
and enthalpy
Specific isobaric heat capacity as a function of pressure
and entropy.

In1
p
p
T
T

In2

Out
Saturated vapour isochoric heat capacity
Saturated liquid isochoric heat capacity
Saturated vapour isochoric heat capacity
Saturated liquid isochoric heat capacity
Specific isochoric heat capacity as a function of pressure
and temperature.
Specific isochoric heat capacity as a function of pressure
and enthalpy
Specific isochoric heat capacity as a function of pressure
and entropy.

Speed of sound
Function
wV_p
wL_p
wV_T
wL_T
w_pT
w_ph
w_ps

3.11

Out
Saturated vapour internal energy
Saturated liquid internal energy
Saturated vapour internal energy
Saturated liquid internal energy
Specific internal energy as a function of pressure and
temperature.
Specific internal energy as a function of pressure and
enthalpy
Specific internal energy as a function of pressure and
entropy.

Specific isochoric heat capacity

Function
CvV_p
CvL_p
CvV_T
CvL_T

3.10

In2

Specific isobaric heat capacity

Function
CpV_p
CpL_p
CpV_T
CpL_T

3.9

In1
p
p
T
T

In1
p
p
T
T

In2

p
p

h
s

Out
Saturated vapour speed of sound
Saturated liquid speed of sound
Saturated vapour speed of sound
Saturated liquid speed of sound
Speed of sound as a function of pressure and
temperature.
Speed of sound as a function of pressure and enthalpy
Speed of sound as a function of pressure and entropy.

Viscosity
Viscosity is not part of IAPWS Steam IF97. Equations from "Revised Release on the
IAPWS Formulation 1985 for the Viscosity of Ordinary Water Substance", 2003 are used.
Viscosity in the mixed region (4) is interpolated according to the density. This is not true
since it will be two fases.

Function
my_pT
my_ph
my_ps

3.12

In1
p
p
p

In2
T
h
s

Out
Viscosity as a function of pressure and temperature.
Viscosity as a function of pressure and enthalpy
Viscosity as a function of pressure and entropy.

Thermal Conductivity
Revised release on the IAPS Formulation 1985 for the Thermal Conductivity of ordinary
water substance (IAPWS 1998)
Function
tcL_p
tcV_p
tcL_T
tcV_T
tc_pT
tc_ph
tc_hs

3.13

In1
p
p
T
T

In2

Out
Saturated vapour thermal conductivity
Saturated liquid thermal conductivity
Saturated vapour thermal conductivity
Saturated liquid thermal conductivity
Thermal conductivity as a function of pressure and
temperature.
Thermal conductivity as a function of pressure and
enthalpy
Thermal conductivity as a function of enthalpy and entropy

Surface Tension
IAPWS Release on Surface Tension of Ordinary Water Substance, September 1994
Function
st_T
st_p

3.14

In2

Out
Surface tension for two phase water/steam as a function
of T
Surface tension for two phase water/steam as a function
of T

In1

In2

Out
Surface tension for two phase water/steam as a function
of T
Surface tension for two phase water/steam as a function
of T

T
p

Vapour fraction
Function
x_ph
x_ps

3.15

In1

Vapour Volume Fraction

Observe that vapour volume fraction is very sensitive. Vapour volume is about 1000 times
greater than liquid volume and therefore vapour volume fraction gets close to the accurancy
of IAPWS IF-97
Function
vx_ph
vx_ps

In1

In2

Out
Vapour volume fraction as a function of pressure and
enthalpy
Vapour volume fraction as a function of pressure and
entropy.