1 Introduction

Industrial steam tables exist to provide a standard set of properties of water and steam for manufacturers, customers, and other parties. Three desirable qualities for a set of industrial steam tables are accuracy, self-consistency, and stability. The properties must be reasonably accurate and self-consistent to support quality design of equipment. A formulation must remain the standard for many years, because the change from one standard to another is inconvenient and expensive. If the tables are represented by computer programs, those programs must be fast, since design software may call steam property routines millions of times. The ASME International Steam Tables for Industrial Use provide highly accurate and self-consistent steam properties, conforming to the constraint of representation by a fast computer program. They are based on the “Revised Release on the IAPWS Formulation 1997 for the Thermodynamic Properties of Water and Steam for Industrial Use,” adopted as an international standard by the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam. They are suitable for calculations for current and anticipated power plants and are expected to remain the standard for at least 20 years.