Thermodynamics & Heat Transfer · Wet steam and quality
How much of it is actually steam
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How much of it is actually steam

Steam on the saturation line is rarely all vapour. Its quality xx is the fraction of each kilogram that has actually boiled: x=0x = 0 is saturated water, x=1x = 1 is dry saturated steam, and a working header lives somewhere near 0.95. Quality is a pure fraction — no units, ever. If your xx arrives wearing kJ/kg, a rearrangement upstream is lying to you.

Read aloud: x equals h minus h-f, over h-f-gx=hhfhfgx = \dfrac{h - h_f}{h_{fg}}. Every letter has a job. hh is the measured enthalpy of the mixture in kJ/kg; hfh_f is the saturated liquid enthalpy at that same pressure; hfgh_{fg} is the latent heat at that same pressure. The numerator is the latent heat this kilogram actually took up; the denominator is how much was on offer. Whichever of the four the question leaves blank is the one you solve for.

The same physics has a second face. Written from the hfh_f and hgh_g columns it is the lever rule: h=(1x)hf+xhgh = (1 - x)\,h_f + x\,h_gh equals one minus x, times h-f, plus x times h-g. The wet share (1x)(1-x) carries liquid enthalpy, the dry share xx carries vapour enthalpy, and the two shares add to one whole kilogram. Use whichever form matches the columns your table gives you; because hg=hf+hfgh_g = h_f + h_{fg}, they can never disagree.

And the named mistake this lesson exists to prevent: dividing by hgh_g instead of hfgh_{fg}. They differ by the liquid enthalpy, they sit next to each other in the table, and the wrong one gives a plausible-looking answer every single time. Latent heat is the one with the journey in its subscript.