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Mixed air calculator

Balance water vapour and enthalpy when two air streams mix adiabatically at a common pressure. Each inlet can use relative humidity or humidity ratio.

Calculator

Mixed dry-bulb temperature
298.07
Mixed humidity ratio (kg/kg dry air)
0.01022079
Mixed relative humidity
0.519396
Mixed moist-air enthalpy (J/kg dry air)
51,105.12821493
Mixed gas volume flow
2.00002
Mixed dry-air mass flow (kg/s)
2.33028746
Liquid condensation rate (kg/s)
0.00000000
Stream 1 dry-air mass fraction
0.510776
Air states at the common pressure
StreamT (K)RH (fraction)w (kg/kg dry air)Dew point (K)Vapour pressure (Pa)Volume (m³/kg dry air)Dry air flow (kg/s)Enthalpy (J/kg dry air)Volume flow (m³/s)
Inlet 1293.150000000.500000000.00726174282.422392291,169.401850040.840156351.1902546538,551.741379981.00000000
Inlet 2303.150000000.500000000.01331020291.596639862,123.015121800.877167741.1400328164,211.529174611.00000000
Mixed gas298.069667450.519396200.01022079287.526985671,638.212401150.858273342.3302874651,105.128214932.00002360

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How this calculator works

Actual volume flows are converted to dry-air mass flows using each inlet state. Water and enthalpy are then mixed on a dry-air basis, using ASHRAE ideal-mixture equations. If the unconstrained mixture would exceed saturation, the calculation solves a saturated outlet with retained liquid water and includes its sensible enthalpy. Inlet temperatures are limited to 0 to 100 C, avoiding ice formation. Pressure drop, external heat exchange and droplet volume are neglected.

Formula

w = 0.621945 pv/(p - pv); h = 1006t + w(2501000 + 1860t), t in C; mdry = Vdot/v; wmix = sum(mdry w)/sum(mdry); hmix = sum(mdry h)/sum(mdry).

Worked example

Mix equal actual volume flows of completely dry air at 280 K and 320 K under the same pressure. Their dry-air mass flows are inversely proportional to temperature, giving a mixed temperature of 298.666667 K, rather than the arithmetic average 300 K.

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Frequently asked questions

Why are volume flows not simply averaged?

Actual volume per kilogram changes with temperature and humidity, so dry-air mass is the conserved weighting basis.

What if water condenses?

The outlet is solved at saturation and the excess water is reported as a liquid condensation rate. The model retains its energy at the outlet temperature.

What does a dry-air dew point mean?

With exactly zero water vapour there is no finite dew point; the table reports that explicitly.

Sources

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