[Physics] Why enthalpy decreases with pressure increase? and how we can understand this relation with the fact which we get from steam power plant operation

thermodynamics

why enthalpy decreases with pressure increase? and how we can understand this relation with the fact which we get from steam power plant operation,
when we reduce the boiler pressure from 1800 psi to 1500 psi, turbine increase its valve opening value more to admit more steam to meet the power requirement at the same produced power.
also in it is recommended in ASME when doing capacity test of turbine to insure the turbine is VWO (valve wide open) and we get this status by reducing the boiler pressure as per ASME.
so, that means when pressure decrease, the enthalpy decrease which conflict with the phenomena above.
thanks
Ahmad Rabie 

Best Answer

Enthalpy(H) is defined as H=U + PV. U is internal energy and P and V are pressure and volume respectively.

I do not know much about steam power plants, so I looked up steam boilers on the net. Since they are closed vessels, if the pressure falls, the temperature also falls. The internal energy is directly related to temperature, so it decreases. Moreover, the PV term also decreases with temperature ( for both ideal and real gases). Hence, equating with U and PV, H(enthalpy) should also decrease with pressure in this particular situation.