Equation-of-state for fluids at high densities-hydrogen isotope measurements and thermodynamic derivations

Hydrogen isotopes play an important role in energy technologies, in particular, the compression to high densities for initiation of controlled thermonuclear fusion energy. At high densities the properties of the compressed hydrogen isotopes depart drastically from ideal thermodynamic predictions. The measurement of accurate data including the author's own recent measurements of n-H2 and n-D2 in the range 75 to 300 K and 0.2 to 2.0 GPa (2 to 20 kbar) is reviewed. An equation-of-state of the Benedict type is fit to these data with a double-process least-squares computer program. The results are reviewed and compared with existing data and with a variety of theoretical work reported for fluid hydrogens. A new heuristic correlation is presented for simplicity in predicting volumes and sound velocity at high pressures. 9 figures, 1 table