Ultrasonic evaluation of thermodynamic parameters of liquids under high pressure

In many technological processes (e.g., in the chemical, petrochemical, food, and plastics industries), liquids are subjected to high pressures and temperatures. Therefore, knowledge of their thermodynamic properties is essential for understanding, design, and control of the process technology. Direct evaluation of the thermodynamic parameters of liquids under high pressure, using conventional methods, is very difficult. Therefore, the application of these methods in industrial conditions, particularly in on-line control of the technological parameters of liquids, is practically impossible. Ultrasonic methods (e.g., sound speed measurements) are very suitable for this purpose because of their simplicity and accuracy. The sound velocity is closely related to numerous thermodynamic properties of liquids. The objective of this paper is to address the influence of temperature and pressure on the thermodynamic parameters of liquids, using the example of diacylglycerol (DAG) oil, employing ultrasonic methods. In this paper, we present ultrasonic velocity and density measurements (performed by the authors) in DAG oil over a range of pressures and temperatures. On the basis of experimental results (the sound velocity and liquid density versus pressure and temperature) a series of DAG oil thermodynamic parameters such as specific heat ratio, intermolecular free path length, Van der Waals constant b, surface tension, and effective Debye temperature were evaluated as functions of pressure and temperature.