Class Exercise 3 – Properties of Substances

1. A 1 m3 rigid vessel contains steam at 6 bar and 600oC is cooled by transferring heat
from the system to the surroundings.

a. Determine the temperature and pressure at which the steam starts to

condense.
b. Calculate the mass of the liquid at the end of the cooling process when the
pressure reaches 0.6 bar.
c. Sketch a T-v diagram to show the processes.
[130oC, 270.3kPa; 24.5%, 1.1275kg]

2. Steam at a pressure of 100 kPa and a quality of 50% initially fills a rigid vessel
having a volume of 0.5 m3. The steam is then heated, causing the pressure in the
vessel to rise to 150 kPa.
a. Determine:
i. The mass of the steam in the vessel.
ii. The temperature and quality of the steam after the heating process.
iii. The mass of the vapour, mg and liquid, mf in the vessel after the
heating process.
b. If the steam in the vessel is now further heated, what would the pressure and
temperature in the vessel be when all steam has turned into saturated
vapour?
c. Sketch the processes in part (a) and part (b) on P-v and T-v diagrams,
indicating clearly the temperatures, pressures and the paths.
[0.59kg; 111.4oC, 73%; 0.4307kg, 0.1593kg; 2.11 bar, 121.84oC]

3. Refrigerant-134a in a rigid vessel at a pressure of 1 MPa and a temperature of 100oC

was cooled until the pressure drops to 500 kPa.
a. Determine the final state of the refrigerant.
b. Sketch the process on a P-v and T-v diagrams.
[66.3%; 15.71oC]

4. A rigid vessel having a volume of 0.5 m3 initially contains water vapour mixture at 400
kPa. The quality of the mixture is 40 percent. Heat is then transferred to the system,
causing the pressure in the vessel to rise to 700 kPa.
a. Calculate the initial mass of the mixture in the vessel.
b. Determine the mass of the vapour and liquid in the vessel after the heat
transfer process.
c. Sketch the process on a P-V and T-V diagrams.
[2.693kg; 67.9%, 1.831kg, 0.862kg]
Class Exercise 3 – Properties of Substances

5. A closed system contains a mixture of 1 kg of liquid water and 1 kg of water vapour in

equilibrium at 700 kPa. Heat is transferred to the mixture at constant pressure until
the temperature reaches 350oC.
a. Sketch a diagram to represent the system, showing the system’s boundary
and energy interactions.
b. Determine the change in volume of the system.
c. Sketch the T-v and the P-v diagrams for the process with respect to
saturation lines.
[v1=0.137 m3/kg, v2=0.41435 m3/kg, ∆V=0.5547m3]

6. a. A 1.8 m3 rigid tank contains steam at a temperature of 220oC. One-third of the

volume is in the liquid phase and the rest is in the vapour form. Determine the
quality of the saturated mixture.
[2.69%]

b. A piston-cylinder device contains 0.2 m3 of liquid water and 0.8 m3 of water

vapour in equilibrium at a pressure of 1 MPa. Heat is transferred at constant
pressure until the temperature reaches 350oC.
ii. Determine the initial temperature of the water.
iii. Find the total mass of the water.
iv. Calculate the final volume of the system.
v. Sketch the T-v and P-v diagrams for the process with respect to
saturation lines. Label your diagrams clearly.
[179.9oC; 181.54kg; 51.28m3]

7. 2 kg of superheated water vapour at 1.4 MPa and 240ºC is allowed to cool at

constant volume until the temperature drops to 120ºC.
a. Find the quality and mass of water condensed at the final state.
b. Sketch the T-v and P-v diagrams for the process with respect to saturation
lines.
[17.79%, 1.644kg]

8. Steam is contained in a closed rigid container with a volume of 1 m3. Initially, the
pressure and temperature of the steam are at 7 bars and 500C respectively. The
temperature drops as a result of heat transfer to the surroundings. The final pressure
of the steam is 0.5 bars.
a. Determine the pressure at which condensation first occurs, in bars.
b. Find the fraction of the total mass that has condensed at the final state.
c. Sketch the T-v diagram for the overall process with respect to saturation lines.
[3.55 bar; 15.95%, 1.624kg]
Class Exercise 3 – Properties of Substances

9. a. A tank contains Ammonia at 1.6 MPa and 140oC. Determine its specific
volume using;
i. The ideal gas equation.
ii. The generalized compressibility chart.
(Given: Tcr = 405.5 K , Pcr = 11.28 MPa, R = 0.4882 kJ/kgK)

b. Determine the errors involved in part (a)(i) and (a)(ii) if the actual specific
volume for Ammonia at 1.6 MPa and 140oC is 0.11974 m3/kg.

[0.126 m3/kg, 0.122 m3/kg, 5.23%, 1.88%]

10. A tank contains superheated water vapour at 10 MPa and 400ºC. Determine its
specific volume using:
a. The ideal gas equation.
b. The generalized compressibility chart.
c. The steam tables.
[0.03109 m3/kg, 0.0267 m3/kg, 0.026436 m3/kg]

11. a. A well-insulated rigid vessel contains superheated vapor at 20 MPa and

400ºC. Determine its specific volume using:
i. The ideal gas equation.
ii. The generalized compressibility chart.

b. Compare the values of specific volume obtained in part (a)(i) and part (a)(ii)
with the specific volume from the steam table. Justify your answer.
[0.01555 m3/kg, 0.009641 m3/kg, 56.4% error, 3% error]

12. A piston-cylinder assembly contains Nitrogen (N2) gas at 200 K and 8 MN/m2.
Determine the specific volume of N2 using:
a. The ideal gas equation of state.
b. The generalised compressibility chart.
c. Justify your answers obtained from part (b)(i) and part (b)(ii).
[0.007425 m3/kg, 0.00638 m3/kg]