The speed of sound and derived thermodynamic properties of pure water at temperatures between (253 and 473) K and at pressures up to 400 MPa

The speed of sound in high-purity water has been measured in the temperature range (253 to 473) K at pressures up to 400 MPa. The experimental technique used was based on a double-path pulse-echo method with a single 5-MHz ultrasound transducer placed between two unequally spaced reflectors. The cell was calibrated in water at T = 298.15 K and p = 1 MPa against the speed of sound given by the 1995 equation-of-state formulation of the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS-95) which, for that state point, has an uncertainty of 0.005%. Corrections for the effects of temperature and pressure on the path length difference are considered in detail. The estimated expanded relative uncertainty of the speed of sound determined in this work is shown to be between 0.03% and 0.04% at a confidence level of 95%. The density and isobaric specific heat capacity of water have been obtained in the temperature range (253.15 to 473.15) K at pressure up to 400 MPa by thermodynamic integration of the sound-speed data subject to initial values computed from IAPWS-95 on the isobar at p = 0.1 MPa. The speed of sound, density, and isobaric specific heat capacity were compared with IAPWS-95 with corresponding absolute relative deviations within 0.3%, 0.03%, and 1%, respectively at T >= 273.15 K and p <= 400 MPa; larger deviations, especially for heat capacity, were found at lower temperatures. The results imply that the uncertainties of properties computed from IAPWS-95 may be significantly reduced over the major part of the region investigated in this work. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3688054]