MODULE 1

Steam Engineering
Formation of steam Consider a cylinder fitted with a piston which can move freely upwards and
downwards in it.
(a)

Let 1 kg of water at 0oC under the piston

Let the piston is loaded with load w to ensure heating at constant pressure.
Now if heat is imparted to water, a rise in temperature will be noticed and this

rise will continue till boiling point is reached.

B.P of water, at normal atmospheric pressure of 1.01325 bar is 100oC. But it
increases with the increase in pressure.
(b)

The volume of water will increase slightly with the increase in temperature, but

increase in volume of water (or work) is generally neglected for all types of calculations.
The boiling temperature is known as the temperature of formation of steam or
saturation temperature.

(c)

Now, if supply of heat to water is continued, it will be notices that rise of

temperature after the boiling point is reached nil but piston starts moving upwards which
indicates that there is increase in volume which is only possible if steam formation
occurs.
The heat being supplied does not show any rise of temperature but changes
water into vapour state (steam) and is known as Latent heat or hidden heat.
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So long as the steam is in contact with water, it is called wet steam.

(d)

If heating of steam is further progressed such that all the water particles

associated with steam are evaporated, the steam so obtained is called dry and saturated
steam.
If vg m3 is the volume of 1 kg of dry and saturated steam then work done on the
piston will be
P (Vg - Vf), where P is the constant pressure (due to weight W on the
piston).
(e)

If the supply of heat to the dry and saturated steam is continued at constant

pressure, there will be increase in temperature and volume of steam.

The steam so obtained is called super heated steam and it behaves like a perfect
gas.
Temperature Vs Total Heat Graph during steam formation

A represents the initial condition of water at 0oC and pressure p (in bar)
During the formation of the super heated steam, from water at freezing point,
the heat is absorbed in the following 3 stages.
The heating of water upto boiling temperature or saturation temperature (ts) is

shown by AB.
AP known as sensible heat, liquid heat or total heat of water.
The change of state from liquid to steam is sown by BC PQ, latent heat of
vaporisation.
The super heating process is CD.
QR known as the heat of superheat.
LINE, AR represents the total heat of the super heated steam.
If the pressure is increased, the boiling temperature also increases.
The line passing through the points A, B, E, K o Saturated liquid line.
The line passing through the points L, F, C o Dry saturated steam line.
[Some times, these terms are briefly written as liquid line and dry steam line.
but the word saturated is always understood].
Note:
When the pressure and saturation temperature increases, the latent heat of
vaporisation decreases, it becomes ZERO at a point (N), where liquid and dry steam
lines meet.
The point N is known as critical point and at this point, the liquid and vapour
phases merge, and become identical in every respect.
The temperature corresponding to critical point N is known as critical
temperature and the pressure is known as critical pressure.
For steam, the critical temperature is 374.15oC and critical pressure is 220.9 bar
Pc = 220.9 bar
Tc = 374.15oC
At critical point and above, there is no definite transition from liquid to vapour
and two phases cannot be distinguished visually. The latent heat of vaporisation is zero
at critical point and has no meaning at pressure higher than critical.

At T = 273.16 k and P = 0.006113 bar ice, water and steam co-exist in the
thermodynamic equilibrium in a closed vessel and bcf (Belleni - 200) is called triple
point line. At lower pressures than this, ice sublimates to steam.
IMPORTANT TERMS RELATING STEAM FORMATION
1. Sensible Heat of water (hf)
It is defined as the quantity of heat absorbed by 1 kg of water when it is heated
from 0oC (freezing point) to boiling point.
If i kg of water is heated from 0oC to 100oC the sensible heat added to it will be
4.18 100 = 418 kJ
But if water is at say 20oC initially then sensible heat added will be 4.18 (10020) = 334.7 kJ
This type of heat is denoted by letter hf and its value can be directly read from
the steam tables.

The value of specific heat of water may be taken as 4.18 kJ/kg K at low
pressures but at high pressures it is different from this value.
2. Latent Heat or Hidden Heat (hfg)
It is the amount of heat required to convert water at a given temperature and
pressure into steam at the same temperature and pressure.
The value of L.H is not constant and varies according to pressure variation.
3. Dryness Fraction (x)
It is related with wet steam
Mass of dry saturated vapour to the total mass of the mixture.
x=

mg

mg

mg  mf

mg = Mass of actual Dry steam

mf = Mass of water in suspension

m = Mass of mixture = mg + mf
eg:- If in 1 kg of wet steam 0.9 kg is the dry steam and 0.1 kg water particles
then x = 0.9.
No steam can be completely dry and saturated, so long as it is in contact with
the water from which it is being formed.
The steam is called saturated when the molecules escaping from the liquid
become equal to the molecules returning to it.
Saturated steam may be dry or wet. When the saturated vapour contains
particles of liquid evenly distributed over the entire mass of vapour, it is called wet
saturated steam.
Wet steam is characterised by its dryness fraction.
Dryness fraction, x =

mass of day saturated vapour

mass of mixture

mg
m

x=

mass of dry vapour in the mixture

mass of the mixture

Q. Calculate the dryness fraction of steam which has 1.25 kg of water in suspension
with 40 kg of steam
=

mg
mg  mf

40
40  1.25

0.97

4. Total heat or enthalpy of wet steam (h)

It is defined as the quantity of heat required to convert 1 kg of water at 0oC into
steam at constant pressure.
5. Total heat of dry saturated steam
If steam is dry saturated, x = 1 and hg = hf + hfg

6. Superheated steam
Total heat of super heating is always carried out at constant pressure.
It represents the quantity of heat required to convert 1 kg of water at 0oC into
super heated steam at constant pressure.
h sup

h f  h fg  cps Tsup  Ts

The value of specific heat of steam at constant pressure Cps depends upon the
degree of superheat and the pressure of steam generation. Its average value is taken from
2 to 2.1 kJ/kg K.
Water boils at 12oC if pressure on the surface of water is kept at 0.014 bar.
7oC if pressure 0.01 bar.
Advantages obtained by using super heated steam
1. By super heating steam, its heat content and have its capacity to do work is
increased without having increase its pressure.
2. High temperature use of super heated steam results in an increase in thermal
efficiency.
3. Super heating is done in a super heater which obtains its heat from waste
furnace gases which would have otherwise passed uselessly up the chimney.
Volume of wet and dry steam
If steam has a dryness fraction of x.
1 kg of this steam will contain x kg of dry steam and (1 - x) kg of water.
Let ,

vf volume of 1 kg of water
vg volume of 1 kg of perfect dry steam

vf = specific volume of saturated liquid

vfg = specific volume of evaporation

vg = specific volume of dry steam, then

[specific volume of a fluid is the volume occupied by a unit mass of the fluid]
Volume of 1 kg of wet steam = volume of dry steam + volume of water
[Since vf is very small as compared to vg , therefore the expression (1 - x) vf
may be neglected.
? Volume of 1 kg of wet steam = x vg m3
x vg  1  x  vf

x vg  vf  x vf

vf  x vg  vf

vf  x vfg
vf  x vfg  vfg  vfg

 vf  vfg   1  x  vfg
vg  1  x  vfg

Super heated Steam

The superheated steam behaves like a perfect gas and therefore, its volume can
be worked out by applying Charles law to steam at the beginning and at the end of super
heating process.
vg = Specific volume of dry steam at pressure P
Ts = Saturation temperature in K
Tsup = Temperature of super heated steam in K
Vsup = Volume of 1 kg of super heated steam at pressure P.
Then

P Vg

P Vsup

Ts

Tsup

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Vg Tsup

Vsup

Ts

Internal Energy of steam

The actual Heat energy above the freezing point of water stored in steam is
known as internal energy of steam.
The work of evaporation is not stored in the steam as it is utilised in during
external work.
So the internal energy of steam could be found by subtracting work of
evaporation from the total heat.
u = h - pv
For wet steam

 h f  x h fg   px vg

=  h f  h fg   100 px v g kJ/kg
Pressure on the piston in bar
= P 105 N/m2
1 bar = 105 N/m2
For dry saturated steam
u

 h f  h fg   p vg
hg  100pvg kJ/kg

For super heated steam

u

h f  h fg  Cps Tsup  Ts  P Vsup

h g  Cps Tsup  Ts  100P Vsup

Entropy of steam
1. The entropy of water at 0oC is taken as zero. The water is heated and
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evaporated at constant pressure. The steam is also super heated at constant pressure in
super heaters.
2. So the entropy of steam can be calculated from the formula for the change of
entropy at constant pressure.
Entropy of water

ds

dQ
T

CpZ dT
T

The total increase in entropy of water from freezing point to boiling point, may
be obtained by integrating the above expression within the limits 273 K and Ts K.
s

Ts

o ds 273
Sf

CpZ dT
Ts

T
CpZ loge s
273

T
2.3CpZ log s
273

The value of Sf may be directly seen from the steam tables

Entropy Increase during Evaporation
When the water is completely evaporated into steam, it absorbs full latent heat
(hfg) at constant temperature T, corresponding to the given pressure.
Entropy =

Heat absorbed
Absolute temperature

? Increase of entropy during evaporation

Sfg

h fg
T

If the steam is wet with dryness fraction x, the evaporation will be partial.
i.e., if evaporation is partial,
Heat absorbed = x hfg
? Increase of entropy, Sfg

x h fg
T

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Entropy of wet and dry steam

Entropy of wet and dry steam =
Entropy of water + Entropy during evaporation
= Sf 

x h fg

= Sf 

h fg

Sf  xSfg (wet steam)

Sf  Sfg

Sg (dry steam)

Entropy of super heated steam

Heat absorbed; dQ = Cps dT

ds
Ssup

ds

Ssup  Sg
where

Cps dT
T

Cp

Tsup

Ts

[value taken 1.67 kJ/kg K to 2.5 kJ/kg K]

dT
T

or

Tsup
Cps log e

Tsup
2.3Cp log

Ssup  Sg  is the increase in entropy.

Entropy of 1 kg of superheated steam is

?

Ssup

Tsup
Sg  2.3Cps log

TEMPERATURE - ENTROPY (T.S) DIAGRAM

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STEAM TABLES
The generation of steam at different pressures has been studied experimentally
and various properties of steam have been obtained at different conditions. The
properties have been listed in tables called steam tables. The steam tables are available
for
1. Saturated water and steam - on pressure basis.
2. Saturated water and steam - on temperature basis.
3. Super heated steam - on pressure and temperature basis for enthalpy,
entropy and specific volume.
4. Supercritical steam - on pressure and temperature basis above 221.2 bar
and 374.15oC for enthalpy, entropy and specific volume.
Some important points regarding Steam Tables
(a) The steam table gives values for 1 kg of water and 1 kg of steam.
(b) The steam table gives values of properties from the triple point of water to
the critical point of steam.
(c) For getting values of thermodynamic properties, either saturation pressure or
saturation temperature need to be known. Pressure based steam table (i.e., extreme left
pressure column is placed) is used when pressure value is known, similarly temperature
based steam table is used when temperature value is known.

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(d) At low pressure the volume of saturated liquid is very small as compared to
the volume of dry steam and usually the specific volume of the liquid is neglected. but at
very high pressure the volume of liquid is comparable and should not be neglected.
(e) The specific enthalpy and specific entropy at 0oC are both taken as zero and
measurements are made from 0oC onwards.
(f) In computing properties for wet steam it should be noted that only hfg and sfg
are affected by dryness fraction but hf and sf are not affected by dryness fraction. This
means that for steam with dryness fraction x,

hg

hf  x hfg

Sg

Sf  xSfg
Property Table

Property

Wet steam

Dry steam

Volume

1  x  vf  x vg

vg

Super heated steam

vg .

Enthalpy

hf  x hgf

hf  hfg

hg

Entropy

Sf  xSfg

Sf  Sfg

Sg

Tsup
Ts

h g  Cps Tsup  Tsa

Sg  Cpsln

Tsup
Ts

Enthalpy - Entropy chart (Mollier chart)

Most of the thermodynamic systems deal with flow of steam in steady
condition where change in enthalpy is encountered.

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The most convenient method of computing change in enthalpy is the enthalpyentropy chart.
Saturated liquid region is not required for solving engineering problems and
therefore only a part of chart near saturated vapour region and super heat region is
shown.
This chart is very useful for solving problems on nozzles and steam power
plants.
1. Dryness fraction lines
2. Constant volume lines
3. Constant pressure line
4. Isothermal lines
5. Isentropic lines
6. Throttling lines
RANKINE CYCLE
M.Rankine (1820-1872), a Professor at Glasgow University
It is also a reversible cycle but it differs from the Carnot cycle in the following
respects:
(i) The condensation process is allowed to proceed to completion; the exhaust
steam from the engine/turbine is completely condensed. At the end of condensation
process the working fluid is only liquid and not a mixture of liquid and vapour.

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(ii) The pressure of liquid water can be easily raised to the boiler pressure
(pressure at which steam is being generated in the boiler) by employing a small sized
pump.
In addition, the steam may be super heated in the boiler so as to obtain exhaust
steam of higher quality. That will prevent pitting and erosion of turbine blades.
Steam power plant working on ideal Rankine cycle
The various elements are:
A boiler which generates steam at constant pressure
An engine or turbine in which steam expands isentropically and work is done.
A condenser in which heat is removed from the exhaust steam and it is
completely converted into water at constant pressure
A hot well in which the under state is collected
A pump which raises the pressure of liquid water to the boiler pressure and
pumps it into the boiler for conversion into steam.

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Consider a steady flow conditions at all states and 1 kg of steam is circulating

through the cycle.
The heat supplied by the boiler per kg of steam generated
Heat absorbed = Q1 = (h2 h1) = (h2 h4) - (h1 h4)
where,
Wp = (h1 h4) is called pump work per kg of steam.
Heat rejected into the condenser = Q2 = (h3 h4)
Net work done per kg of steam

= Q1 - Q2
= (h2 h4) - Wp - (h3 h4)
= (h2 h3) - Wp
= W T - WP

Where,
WT = Turbine work = (h2 h3) = isentropic enthalpy drop during expansion
Network done
Heat supplied

Rankine efficiency = KR

W
Q1

 h1  h 2   WP
 h1  h3   WP

The pump work (WP) is very small as compared to turbine work (h2 h3) and
heat added (h2 h1), therefore it can be fairly neglected.
WP = ( P1 - P2) V4
P1 = Boiler pressure, P2 = Condenser pressure
V4 = Specific volume of saturated liquid at condenser pressure.
The field pump handles liquid water which is in compressed, which means with
the increase in pressure its density or specific volume undergoes a little change. Using
general property relation for reversible adiabatic compression, we get,

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Tds = dh - vdp
ds = 0
dh = v dp
' h = v ' P ... (since change in specific volume is negligible)

hf2 - hf3 = V1 (P1 - P2)

When P is in bar and v is in m3/kg, we have
hf2 - hf3 = V4 (P1 - P2) 105 J/kg
The Rankine efficiency without pump work is
KR

h1  h 2
h1  ff 3

............ (1)

State 3 (i.e., at the end of isentropic expansion) must be known then only h 3 can
be determined. State 3 is located from the steam table by equating entropy S2 and S3 or
by drawing a vertical line on the Mollier chart from State 1 to condenser pressure.
Modified Rankine Cycle (Steam Engine Cycle)
In the steam engine the expansion is not continued up to the point 2 as the stroke
will be too long and as the work obtained is very small at the tail end of the stroke which
is not even sufficient to overcome the frictional resistances near the end of the stroke.
Therefore in actual practice the expansion is terminated at point 5 instead of 2 and the
steam is released at constant volume. This causes a sudden pressure drop from P2 to P2
to Pb (back pressure) at constant volume due to the steam communicating with outside
atmosphere. This is represented by 56 fig. This reduces the stroke length of the engine
without any appreciable change in the work done.

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Specific Steam Consumption (S.S.C)

It is defined as the steam consumption (kg/s) to produce unit power (kW)
S.S.C =

Mass flow rate per hour

Net power output

kg / s
kW

3600
kg / kW hr
 h1  h 2 

(h1 - h2) kJ work is obtained from 1 kg of steam.

1 kW hr = 3600 kJ
? S.S.C =

3600
kg / kW hr
 h1  h 2 

In case of steam power plant, the specific steam consumption is an indicator of

the relative size of the plant.
Work ratio (Wr) : It is the ratio of network done to the turbine work.

Wr

 h1  h 2   WP
 h1  h 2 

Relative Efficiency or Efficiency Ratio

Relative Efficiency =

Thermal Efficiency
Ranking Efficiency

Q. A simple Rankine cycle steam power plant operates between the temperature of
260oC and 95oC. The steam is supplied to the turbine at a dry saturated condition.
In the turbine it expands in an isentropic manner. Determine the efficiency of the
Rankine cycle followed by the turbine and the efficiency of the carnot cycle

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