TRC Group
Overview
TRC is one of the oldest data research centers in the United States. For over 60 years, TRC has produced a great number of the periodical compilations and electronic databases that have become a major source of recommended data for scientific research and industrial process design, for both pure materials and mixtures.
Tasks
Located in Boulder, CO, TRC Group performs several functions related to providing state-of-the-art thermodynamic data:- compiles and evaluates experimental data
- develops tools and standards for archival and dissemination of thermodynamic data, especially critically evaluated data
- develops electronic database products
- maintains a web-repository of published data in ThermoML — an XML format developed by TRC for the representation of thermodynamic data
About TRC
TRC specializes in the collection, evaluation, and correlation of thermophysical, thermochemical, and transport property data. The goals of TRC are to establish a comprehensive archive of experimental data covering thermodynamic, thermochemical, and transport properties for pure compounds and mixtures of well-defined composition, and correspondingly, to provide a comprehensive source of critically evaluated data.
Critically Evaluated Data
An important and useful aspect of our work here at TRC, and of the Thermophysical Properties Division of NIST as a whole, is to provide critically evaluated data. Critical evaluation is a process of analyzing all available experimental data for a given property to arrive at recommended values together with estimates of uncertainty, providing a highly useful form of thermodynamic data for our customers. The analysis is based on intercomparisons, interpolation, extrapolation,and correlation of the original experimental data collected at TRC. Data are evaluated for thermodynamic consistency using fundamental thermodynamic principles, including consistency checks between data and correlations for related properties. While automated as much as possible, this process is overseen by experts with a great deal of experience in the field of thermodynamic data. Professional staff are responsible for the evaluation of each set of data that is committed to the archive.For many years TRC has published 2 series of periodicals containing evaluated data for pure compounds (TRC Tables - Hydrocarbons and TRC Tables - Non-Hydrocarbons.)
We recently completed development of a web version of the TRC
Tables. This product is called Web Thermo Tables (WTT), and comes in
both a Professional
Edition and a Lite Edition. Both
are available by subscription through the NIST Standard Reference Data program
(SRD). WTT -
Professional Edition represents a complete collection of
critically evaluated thermodynamic property data primarily for pure
organic compounds. As of September, 2007, WTT contains information on
7765 compounds. WTT
- Lite Edition represents a collection of critically evaluated
thermodynamic property data for 150 commonly-used (primarily organic)
pure compounds.
A critical resource is our extensive in-house collection of published thermodynamic and thermophysical properties, the SOURCE data system. All of the data catalogued for critical evaluation by TRC are stored in this data system. An important aspect of TRC's mission is to continue to expand this collection to make it as complete a repository as possible for all published thermodynamic and thermophysical property data.
This comprehensive mission is the evolution of the role of TRC as a source of thermodynamic data. For information on TRC's history see:
ThermoML: XML-Based Standard for Data Storage and Exchange
Efficient and reliable data dissemination is also at the core of our work and is the driver for our development of ThermoML as a standard format for data storage and exchange. We are currently partnering with five major journals to encourage authors to submit their data for validation as part of the publication process. As part of this cooperation we have created automated tools as part of the software infrastructure supporting the ThermoML standard: Guided Data Capture GDC guides authors through the process of data submission, and ThermoML Opener allows direct viewing of the data and metadata contained in a ThermoML file. All data submitted to NIST TRC through participating journals are publically available through our ThermoML Archive.ThermoML is a new standard for thermodynamic data communication that has been developed within IUPAC Project (2002-055-3-024): XML-based IUPAC Standard for Experimentally and Critically Evaluated Thermodynamic Property Data Storage and Capture. The namespace, ThermoML, has been reserved by IUPAC.