As a basis for printed property charts and tables empirical multiparameter equa tions of state
have been the most important source of accurate thermodynamic property data for more than 30
years now. However due to increasing demands on the accuracy of thermodynamic property data in
computerised calculations as well as the availability of appropriate software tools and the
ever increasing computer power such formulations are nowadays becoming a valuable tool for
everyday work. This development has substantially increased the number of scientists engi
neers and students who are working with empirical multiparameter equations of state and it
continues to do so. Nevertheless common knowledge on this kind of thermodynamic property
models and on the ongoing progress in this scientific discipline is still very limited.
Multiparameter equations of state do not belong to the topics which are taught intensively in
thermodynamic courses in engineering and natural sciences and the books and articles where they
are published mainly deal with the thermodynamic properties of certain substances rather than
with the theoretical background of the used equations of state. In contrast to this my concern
mainly was to give a survey of the theoretical background of multiparameter equations of state
both with regard to their application and their development.
