From water and other liquids

The ^“18th International Conference on the Properties of Water and Steam” (^18th ICPWS) took place June 23–28, 2024, in Boulder, CO, U.S.A. It is organized every four to six years by the “International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam” (IAPWS). The IAPWS is an international association of several national committees whose goal is to research the properties of water and steam and to formulate the results as internationally binding standards that then correspond to ISO standards. A precise understanding of the properties of water is of great importance in many fields, particularly in energy technology.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Kunick, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Hans-Joachim Kretzschmar, and Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Herrmann from the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG) attended this year’s conference. Prof. Kunick is the HSZG representative and a voting member of the German-Swiss National Committee (GSAPWS) of the IAPWS; the current GSAPWS chair is Prof. Kretzschmar. At the conference, Prof. Kunick presented the SBTL method for calculating the material properties of working fluids in energy technology using spline interpolation. This method is characterized by high accuracy and extremely short computation times, which is why it is good for simulating energy engineering processes and for incorporating real material properties into numerical flow simulations—and is already being used for these purposes. Following his presentation, a working group was formed that, under his leadership, will focus on developing a new industry standard for water and steam using the SBTL method he developed.

The "^22nd Symposium on Thermophysical Properties", which is the most important international conference in the field of research into the thermophysical properties of gases, liquids and solids, took place at the same time as the ICPWS conference. All three of the above-mentioned persons also contributed to the content. Two posters and a computer presentation illustrated material value calculation programs that have been developed in recent years at the Department of Technical Thermodynamics under the direction of Prof. Kretzschmar and are now also being further developed by Prof. Kunick.

Connections for these material value programs were presented for many software products used in everyday engineering, such as Excel, MATLAB or Mathcad. In a further lecture, Prof. Kunick presented the practical application of the SBTL method to pure substances and substance mixtures. Dr. Herrmann presented the results of the re-evaluation of viscosity measurements on natural gas mixtures, which are being taken into account in current research into the most accurate substance data possible for substance mixtures. In addition, the three representatives of the HSZG also chaired some of the lecture sessions at the 22nd symposium, which underlines the acceptance of research at the HSZG among international colleagues.