An acoustic resonance measurement cell for liquid property determinations up to 250 °C

This paper reports on the development of a compact, rugged, and portable measurement cell design for the determination of liquid sound speed at temperatures up to 250 °C and pressures up to 3000 psi. Although a significant amount of work exists in the literature on the characterization of fluids, primarily pure water, over a wide range of pressures and temperatures, the availability of experimentally determined sound speed in water between 100 °C and 250 °C is very limited. The need to measure sound speed in liquids up to 250 °C is of both fundamental interest, as in the case of basic equations of state, and applied interest, such as for characterizing geothermal or petroleum downhole environments. The measurement cell reported here represents an advancement in the established room temperature swept frequency acoustic interferometry measurement for liquid sound speed determinations. The paper details the selection of materials suitable for high temperature operation and the construction of the measurement apparatus. Representative sound speeds as a function of temperature and pressure are presented and are shown to be in very good agreement with an internationally accepted standard for water sound speed.