Thermodynamic Properties of Gases from Speed-of-Sound Measurements

A procedure for deriving thermodynamic properties of gases from speed of sound is presented. It is based on numerical integration of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) (rather than partial differential equations—PDEs) connecting speed of sound with other thermodynamic properties in the T-p domain. The procedure enables more powerful methods of higher-order approximation to ODEs to be used (e.g., Runge-Kutta) and requires only Dirichlet initial conditions. It was tested on gaseous argon in the temperature range from 250 to 450 K and in the pressure range from 0.2 to 12 MPa, and also on gaseous methane in the temperature range from 275 to 375 K and in the pressure range from 0.4 to 10 MPa. The density and isobaric heat capacity of argon were derived with absolute average deviations of 0.007% and 0.03%, respectively. The density and isobaric heat capacity of methane were derived with absolute average deviations of 0.006% and 0.09%, respectively.