A New Determination of the Kinematic Viscosity of Steam at Supercritical Pressures and Temperatures

Abstract

This paper records new measurements of the kinematic viscosity of steam at pressures from 300 kgf/cm2 to 800 kgf/cm2 and at temperatures from 380°C to 700°C. A viscometer of a type developed from that of Rankine (1)† has been used to obtain these measurements which may be considered as complementary to results already reported by Kjelland-Fosterud (2) and Whitelaw (3) with a similar type of apparatus. Consequently, only essential differences in the apparatus used by the author are outlined here. The author, in the paper, reviews the present position with respect to viscosity determinations at supercritical conditions in the light of the recent International Conference on the Properties of Steam, at which it has been agreed to draw up a first skeleton table of viscosity values with tolerances.