MadSci Network: Physics |
The property you should be working with is the enthalpy (h) which represents the total useful energy of a substance. Useful energy consists of two parts. The first part is the internal energy (u) and the second is the flow energy (pv). Enthalpy is the sum of these two parts, h = u + pv Given the temperature and pressure of the steam one can look up the enthalpy in standard "steam tables" of properties for steam at any given temperature and pressure. There are several on line resources for such properties. One you might try, http://webbook.nist.gov/che mistry/fluid/ The work from a turbine (W) can then be calculated if you also know output conditions. Alternatively, if you know the work you want to extract from the steam you can calculate what the output conditions would be for an ideal turbine. W = m (h1 - h2) where h1 is the enthalpy of the steam going into the turbine and h2 is the enthalpy of the steam coming out of the turbine. m is the mass of steam. To calculate the work and heat inputs and outputs for an entire steam cycle is more complicated, but the above will get you started. For the entire cycle you can try one of the following web pages http://www.n e.ncsu.edu/Acadm/Classes/Labs/project2.html http://chemengineer .about.com/cs/thermodynamics/ or a thermodynamics text book.
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Physics.