Therm-005 Revised: October 26, 2012

Simulation of Steam Engine with Aspen Plus® V8.0

1. Lesson Objectives
 Learn how to simulate a steam engine with Aspen Plus
 Learn how to specify pumps, heaters, and turbines

2. Prerequisites
 Aspen Plus V8.0
 Introductory thermodynamics

3. Background
A steam engine consists of the following steps:

 Water is pumped into a boiler using a pump.

Also, we will look at the plot of vapor pressure versus temperature using pure property analysis in Aspen Plus to
help us understand which phase water should be in for a given temperature and pressure.

The examples presented are solely intended to illustrate specific concepts and principles. They may not
reflect an industrial application or real situation.

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4. Aspen Plus Solution

4.01. Create a new simulation in Aspen Plus using the Blank Simulation template. The Components |
Specification | Selection sheet is displayed. Enter WATER for Component ID.

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4.02. Since water is the only component in this tutorial, Method assistant should recommend IAPWS-95. Go
to the Methods | Specifications | Global sheet and select IAPWS-95 for Base method.

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4.03. Click the Analysis | Pure button from the Home tab of the ribbon to create a new pure property
analysis. Select PL for Property and enter 200 for Upper limit and 25 for No. points. In the Components
form, move WATER into the Selected components area.

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4.04. Select the Run analysis button to generate the property plot for water. This plot shows which phase
WATER should be in for a given temperature and pressure.

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4.05. Enter the simulation environment. Add two Heaters, a Pump and a Compressor as shown in the
flowsheet. Connect the four units with Material Streams. Name the streams as in the screenshot
provided below. Note that the Compr model can be used to model a Turbine.

4.06. Go to the Streams | H2O | Input | Mixed sheet. Enter 98 and C for Temperature, 1 bar for Pressure,
and select Mass-Flow and kg/hr from the drop-down lists in the Composition frame. Enter 10000 for
WATER value field to specify the flow rate.

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4.07. Go to the Blocks | BOILER | Input | Specifications sheet. Enter 460 and C for Temperature and 40 bar
for Pressure.

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4.08. Go to the Blocks | CONDENSR | Input | Specifications sheet. Enter 98 and C for Temperature and 1 and
bar for Pressure.

4.09. Go to the Blocks | PUMP | Setup | Specifications sheet. Select the radio button for Discharge pressure
and enter 1.2 and select bar.

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4.10. Go to the Blocks | TURBINE | Setup | Specifications sheet. Select the Turbine radio button, and select
the Discharge pressure radio button. Enter 1 and select bar for Discharge Pressure. Go to the
Convergence sheet and select Vapor-Liquid from the drop-down list for Valid phases (see screenshot
below).

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4.11. Click the Run | Run button under the Home tab of the ribbon (or press F5) to run the simulation.
Navigate to the Results Summary | Streams | Material sheet. The information of the streams in the
steam engine can be found. The vapor fraction and liquid fraction of each stream can be observed. The
stream conditions can also be confirmed with the plot generated in step 4.04. For instance, stream
COOLH2O is a subcooled liquid according to the plot from step 4.04, yielding a liquid fraction of 1.

4.12. Note that there are two warnings regarding lack of feed stream and outlet stream for this flowsheet.
These appear because water circulates within the flowsheet. Therefore, the warnings can be ignored.

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5. Conclusions
The steam engine system can be simulated using Aspen Plus. The user can develop this flowsheet further by
adding heat streams and work streams. By selecting and clicking the Heat Stream or Work Stream icon, the
user can determine where heat streams and work streams can be added to the flowsheet. The pure property
analysis can help us to validate the results of the simulation via checking the stream conditions.

6. Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Aspen Technology, Inc. (“AspenTech”). All rights reserved. This work may not be
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of
AspenTech. ASPENTECH MAKES NO WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH
RESPECT TO THIS WORK and assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. In no event will AspenTech be
liable to you for damages, including any loss of profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential
damages arising out of the use of the information contained in, or the digital files supplied with or for use with,
this work. This work and its contents are provided for educational purposes only.

AspenTech®, aspenONE®, and the Aspen leaf logo, are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc.. Brands and
product names mentioned in this documentation are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.

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