The IAPWS Formulation 1995 for the Thermodynamic Properties of Ordinary Water Substance for General and Scientific Use

In 1995, the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam (IAPWS) adopted a new formulation called “The IAPWS Formulation 1995 for the Thermodynamic Properties of Ordinary Water Substance for General and Scientific Use”, which we abbreviate to IAPWS-95 formulation or IAPWS-95 for short. This IAPWS-95 formulation replaces the previous formulation adopted in 1984. This work provides information on the selected experimental data of the thermodynamic properties of water used to develop the new formulation, but information is also given on newer data. The article presents all details of the IAPWS-95 formulation, which is in the form of a fundamental equation explicit in the Helmholtz free energy. The function for the residual part of the Helmholtz free energy was fitted to selected data for the following properties: (a) thermal properties of the single-phase region (pρT) and of the vapor–liquid phase boundary (pσρ′ρ″T), including the phase-equilibrium condition (Maxwell criterion), and (b) t...