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Round Robin Study of Total Heat Flux Gauge Calibration at Fire Laboratories

Published

Author(s)

William M. Pitts, A V. Murthy, J L. de Ris, J R. Filtz, K Nyard, D Smith, I Wetterlund

Abstract

Total heat flux gauges are widely employed in fire research and fire testing laboratories. Several fire laboratories have developed systems for calibrating these gauges. There are major differences between these calibration facilities, and prior to this work there had been no systematic check of the degree of agreement between calibrations from the different laboratories. This paper describes the results of two round robins in which five fire laboratories performed independent calibrations of two sets of Gardon and Schmidt-Boelter total heat flux gauges (i.e., a total of four gauges). One set of the gauges was also calibrated by two additional laboratories whose primary focus is measurement and calibration. Even though systematic variations between calibrations from the different laboratories were identified, the degree of agreement is viewed as being satisfactory for most fire testing and research purposes. Additional experimental findings concerning gauge angular response and linearity are presented. The need to develop a better understanding of the relative response of these types of gauges to radiative and convective heat transfer is emphasized.
Citation
Special Publication (NIST SP) - 1031
Report Number
1031

Keywords

heat flux, Gardon gauges, measuring instruments, calibrating, convective heat transfer, round robin, Schmidt-Boelter gauges, thermal radiation

Citation

Pitts, W. , Murthy, A. , de, J. , Filtz, J. , Nyard, K. , Smith, D. and Wetterlund, I. (2004), Round Robin Study of Total Heat Flux Gauge Calibration at Fire Laboratories, Special Publication (NIST SP), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=861340 (Accessed November 13, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created October 1, 2004, Updated February 19, 2017