The PV Work Term

Contribution for Vessels

in Aspen-HYSYS

Aspen Technology, Inc.

July 23, 2013
The attached test case PV.hsc is an Aspen-HYSYS simulation file that reproduces the example 7-15 in
the textbook by engel and Boles [1]. The simulation makes use of a HYSYS depressuring utility (or DPU,
in short) that was created in version V7.3. In the textbook example, a 50m3 vessel filled with argon at
800kPa and 500K discharges its contents through a valve until it reaches 100kPa. The authors of the
book are able to come out with closed form solutions to a number of variables by assuming (a) ideal gas,
(b) adiabatic conditions. The combination of (a) and (b) results in an isentropic process which follows

1 k

TP k
= constant 1 , assuming that
(1.a, b)
Cp
k= = constant 2
Cv

Thus
1 k

P k
T2 = T1 1 (2)
P2

where the subscripts 1 and 2 are used for initial and final time, respectively. HYSYS reports, in fact, a
virtually constant value for k of about 1.6743 in Figure 1a during the course of the simulation. By
introducing this value in equation (2), we obtain T2 = 216.4 K . The simulation returns T2 = 217.6 K ,
slightly higher than the theoretical one by 0.05%. This T2 value turns out to be the minimum possible
temperature that can be attained with the simulator during this adiabatic discharge and is obtained only
if the PV work term contribution at the Design tab, Options page of the DPU property view is set to
100%, as shown in Figure 2. The main variables of interest are displayed in Figures 1a, and 1b.

Figures 1a, b. Plots at a PV work term contribution of 100%

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Figure 2. The PV work term may be used as a tuning factor useful for a number of applications

We next compare them to the results in Figures 3a and 3b generated with a PV Work Term Contribution
= 0%. The most striking characteristic associated to this change is that the process is now isothermal. As
a consequence, the enthalpy and internal energy remain constant, which applies for an ideal gas as long
as we refer either to the specific enthalpy or to the specific internal energy. To notice that, even if a
considerable amount of mass is leaving the vessel, the constancy of these properties will hold as long as
the isothermal condition remains.

Figures 3a, b. Plots at a PV work term contribution of 0%

Now, we may have to address the following two questions: (a) how is this HYSYS PV work contribution
term playing a role? (b) why the second case is isothermal?

What we can say is the following

1. Full reversibility is a limit imposed by thermodynamics. So, a worst case scenario study where
the minimum possible temperature had to be determined should be carried out at PV= 100%
and adiabatic conditions. In real life cases, the ideal gas assumption most likely will not hold
and, quite commonly, we will have liquid condensing as the temperature goes down. Also, in thi
sort of studies the temperatures of interest are the wall and insulation temperatures. In Aspen-

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 HYSYS, this will require the introduction the Detailed Heat Loss model and, in consequence, the
adiabatic assumption will be no longer satisfied either.

2. According to [1], the irreversibility of this particular case study is associated to sudden changes,
where small pressure gradients can cause flow patterns that would develop during the
depressurization process. This type of irreversibility has nothing to do with the valve or the valve
characteristics, in fact: the analysis in the textbook is carried out within a control volume
boundary that does not include the valve. Given the fact that the HYSYS vessel model can only
assume a single pressure value all over the vessel at any time, we may indeed visualize the PV
work term as a tuning factor. The recommended values for real life situations are in the 87 to
98% range.

However, more can be said. What causes the temperature drop is the loss of the specific internal energy
because it is partially converted into flow work (or flow energy) transferred to the mass stream leaving
the vessel. This comes from the HYSYS PV work term contribution. In other words, the vessel contents
are doing work to expel the mass leaving the vessel, so u2 u1 and, for the ideal gas case, T2 T1 .
Example 4-10 also in [1] shows how enthalpy is fully converted into internal energy during the filling
process of an insulated tank. To some extent, the discharge process is the opposite of the filling process:
the final temperature of the filled vessel contents is higher than the temperature of the gas in the supply
line.

Finally, a discharge at isothermal conditions shall be the result of an effortless gas discharge where the
system initial and final internal energies per unit mass remain unchanged. Unfortunately, this cannot be
simulated in HYSYS by manipulation of the vessel or the valve parameters.

The way HYSYS can accomplish the same final result is by setting PV%= 0, with the outcomes already
presented in Figures 3a, and 3b. To notice that the constancy in the difference between the observed
values for the specific enthalpy and specific internal energy in Figure 3b comes from Pv = constant ,
another well know result for the ideal gas under isothermal conditions.

References

[1] Thermodynamics, an Engineering Approach. engel, Y. A and Boles, M.A. McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1989