The Viscosity and Thermal Conductivity of Normal Hydrogen in the Limit of Zero Density

Abstract

This paper contains a new representation of the viscosity and thermal conductivity coefficients of normal hydrogen in the limit of zero density as a function of temperature. The correlation is based upon the semiclassical kinetic theory of polyatomic gases and a body of critically evaluated experimental data. In the temperature range 200–400 K the accuracy of the representation of the viscosity is estimated to be ±0.5%. However, at the lowest temperature of 20 K and the highest temperature of 2200 K, the uncertainty rises to ±2.0%. The available thermal conductivity data of high accuracy cover the much more restricted temperature range from 100 to 400 K and the correlation of this property is limited to that range. Above room temperature, the uncertainty in the correlated values is no more than ±0.5%, but below room temperature it rises to one of ±1.5%. An attempt has also been made to represent the viscosity data by means of a correlation universal among several other polyatomic gases but it has proven unsatisfactory. An extension of the temperature range of the thermal conductivity correlation based upon the Wang Chang and Uhlenbeck kinetic theory also fails to produce acceptable results.