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Designation: E422 − 05 (Reapproved 2016)

Standard Test Method for

Measuring Heat Flux Using a Water-Cooled Calorimeter1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation E422; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.

1. Scope 1. The water-cooled annular guard ring serves the purpose of

1.1 This test method covers the measurement of a steady preventing heat transfer to the sides of the calorimeter and
heat flux to a given water-cooled surface by means of a system establishes flat-plate flow. An energy balance on the system
energy balance. (the centrally located calorimeter in Fig. 1) requires that the
energy crossing the sensing surface (A, in Fig. 1) of the
1.2 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as calorimeter be equated to the energy absorbed by the calorim-
standard. No other units of measurement are included in this eter cooling water. Interpretation of the data obtained is not
standard. within the scope of this discussion; consequently, such effects
1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the as recombination efficiency of the surface and thermochemical
safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the state of the boundary layer are outside the scope of this test
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appro- method. It should be noted that recombination effects at low
priate safety and health practices and determine the applica- pressures can cause serious discrepancies in heat flux measure-
bility of regulatory limitations prior to use. ments (such as discussed in Ref (1))3 depending upon the
surface material on the calorimeter.
2. Referenced Documents
3.3 For the particular control volume cited, the energy
2.1 ASTM Standards:2 balance can be written as follows:
E235 Specification for Thermocouples, Sheathed, Type K
E CAL 5 @ mCp ~ ∆T 0 2 ∆T 1 ! # /A (1)
and Type N, for Nuclear or for Other High-Reliability
Applications where:
ECAL = energy flux transferred to calorimeter face, W·m−2
3. Summary of Test Method m = mass flow rate of coolant water, kg·s−1
3.1 A measure of the heat flux to a given water-cooled Cp = water specific heat, J·kg−1·K−1,
surface is based upon the following measurements: (1) the ∆T0 = T02 — T01 calorimeter water bulk temperature rise
water mass flow rate and (2) the temperature rise of coolant during operation, K,
water. The heat flux is determined numerically by multiplying ∆T1 = T2 — T1 = calorimeter water apparent bulk tempera-
the water coolant flow rate by the specific heat and rise in ture rise before operation, K,
temperature of the water and dividing this value by the surface T02 = water exhaust bulk temperature during operation, K,
area across which heat has been transferred. T01 = water inlet bulk temperature during operation, K,
T2 = water exhaust bulk temperature before operation, K,
3.2 The apparatus for measuring heat flux by the energy- T1 = water inlet bulk temperature before operation, K,
balance technique is illustrated schematically in Fig. 1. It is a and
typical constant-flow water calorimeter used to measure stag- A = sensing surface area of calorimeter, m2.
nation region heat flux to a flat-faced specimen. Other calo-
3.4 An examination of Eq 1 shows that to obtain a value of
rimeter shapes can also be easily used. The heat flux is
the energy transferred to the calorimeter, measurements must
measured using the central circular sensing area, shown in Fig.
be made of the water coolant flow rate, the temperature rise of
the coolant, and the surface area across which heat is trans-
1
This test method is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E21 on Space ferred. With regard to the latter quantity it is assumed that the
Simulation and Applications of Space Technology and is the direct responsibility of surface area to which heat is transferred is well defined. As is
Subcommittee E21.08 on Thermal Protection. indicated in Fig. 1, the design of the calorimeter is such that the
Current edition approved April 1, 2016. Published April 2016. Originally
approved in 1971. Last previous edition approved in 2011 as E422 – 05 (2011). heat transfer area is confined by design to the front or directly
DOI: 10.1520/E0422-05R16. heated surface. To minimize side heating or side heat losses, a
2
For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, or
contact ASTM Customer Service at service@astm.org. For Annual Book of ASTM
3
Standards volume information, refer to the standard’s Document Summary page on The boldface numbers in parentheses refer to the list of references at the end of
the ASTM website. this test method.

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 E422 − 05 (2016)

FIG. 1 Steady-State Water-Cooled Calorimeter.

water-cooled guard ring or shroud is utilized and is separated radiative heat-flux rates, then the surface reflectivity of the
physically from the calorimeter by means of an air gap and low calorimeter shall be measured over the wavelength region of
conductivity bushing such as nylon. The air gap is recom- interest (depending on the source of radiant energy). If non-
mended to be no more than 0.5 mm on the radius. Thus, if uniformities exist in the gas stream, a large surface area
severe pressure variations exist across the face of the water-cooled calorimeter would tend to smooth or average any
calorimeter, side heating caused by flow into and out of the air variations. Consequently, it is advisable that the size of the
gap will be minimized. Also, since the water-cooled calorim- calorimeter be limited to relatively small surface areas and
eter and guard ring operate at low surface temperatures applied to where the heat-flux is uniform. Where large samples
(usually lower than 100°C) heat losses across the gap by are tested it is recommended that a number of smaller diameter
radiant interchange are negligible and consequently no special water-cooled calorimeters be used (rather than one large unit).
calorimeter surface gap finishes are necessary. Depending upon These shall be located across the heated surface such that a
the size of the calorimeter surface, large variations in heat flux heat-flux distribution can be described. With this, a more
may exist across the face of the calorimeter. Consequently, the detailed heat-flux measurement can be applied to the specimen
measured heat flux represents an average heat flux over the test and more information can be deduced from the test.
surface area of the water-cooled calorimeter. The water-cooled
calorimeter can be used to measure heat-flux levels over a 5. Apparatus
range from 10 kW/m2 to 60 MW/m2.
5.1 General—The apparatus shall consist of a water-cooled
4. Significance and Use calorimeter and the necessary instrumentation to measure the
4.1 The purpose of this test method is to measure the heat heat transferred to the calorimeter. Although the recommended
flux to a water-cooled surface for purposes of calibration of the instrumentation accuracies are state-of-the-art values, more
thermal environment into which test specimens are placed for rugged and higher accuracy instrumentation may be required
evaluation. If the calorimeter and holder size, shape, and for high pressure and high heat-flux applications. A number of
surface finish are identical to that of the test specimen, the materials can be used to fabricate the calorimeter, but OFHC
measured heat flux to the calorimeter is presumed to be the (oxygen free high conductivity) copper is often preferred
same as that to the sample’s heated surface. The measured heat because of its superior thermal properties.
flux is one of the important parameters for correlating the
5.2 Coolant Flow Measurement—The water flow rate to
behavior of materials.
each component of the calorimeter shall be chosen to cool the
4.2 The water-cooled calorimeter is one of several calorim- apparatus adequately and to ensure accurately measurable rise
eter concepts used to measure heat flux. The prime drawback is in water temperature. The error in water flow rate measurement
its long response time, that is, the time required to achieve shall be not more than 62 %. Suitable equipment that can be
steady-state operation. To calculate energy added to the coolant used is listed in Ref (2) and includes turbine flowmeters,
water, accurate measurements of the rise in coolant tempera- variable area flowmeters, etc. Care must be exercised in the use
ture are needed, all energy losses should be minimized, and of all these devices. In particular, it is recommended that
steady-state conditions must exist both in the thermal environ- appropriate filters be placed in all water inlet lines to prevent
ment and fluid flow of the calorimeter. particles or unnecessary deposits from being carried to the
4.3 Regardless of the source of energy input to the water- water-cooling passages, pipe, and meter walls. Water flow rates
cooled calorimeter surface (radiative, convective, or combina- and pressure shall be adjusted to ensure that no bubbles are
tions thereof) the measurement is averaged over the surface formed (no boiling). If practical, the water flowmeters shall be
active area of the calorimeter. If the water-cooled calorimeter is placed upstream of the calorimeter in straight portions of the
used to measure only radiative flux or combined convective- piping. The flowmeter device shall be checked and calibrated

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 E422 − 05 (2016)
periodically. Pressure gages, if required, shall be used in 6. Procedure
accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and calibra- 6.1 It is essential that the environment be at steady-state
tion charts. conditions prior to testing if the water-cooled calorimeter is to
5.3 Coolant Temperature Measurement—The method of give a representative measure of the heat flux.
temperature measurement must be sufficiently sensitive and 6.2 After a sufficient length of time has elapsed to assure
reliable to ensure accurate measurement of the coolant water constant mass flow of water as well as constant inlet and outlet
temperature rise. Procedures similar to those given in Specifi- water temperature, place the system into the heat-source
cation E235, Type K, and Ref (3) should be followed in the environment. Steady-state operation has been assured if the
calibration and preparation of temperature sensors. The bulk or inlet and exhaust water temperature, and water flow rates are
average temperature of the coolant shall be measured at the steady and not changing with time. In particular the water flow
inlet and outlet lines of each cooled unit. The error in rates should not change during operation. After removing the
measurement of temperature difference between inlet and calorimeter from the environment, record the inlet water
outlet shall be not more than 61 %. The water temperature temperature and flow rates so that they can be compared with
indicating devices shall be placed as close as practical to the pretest values. Changes between pre- and post-test water
calorimeter’s heated surface in the inlet and outlet lines. temperature rise may indicate deposit buildups on the calorim-
However, care must be exercised so as not to place the eter backface or cooling passages which may alter the results of
temperature sensors where there is energy exchange between the measurement of energy transfer.
the incoming (cold) water and the outgoing (heated) water.
This occurs most readily at flow dividers and at the calorimeter 6.3 To ensure consistent heat-flux data, it is recommended
sensing surface. No additional apparatus shall be placed in the that measurements be repeated with the same apparatus. A
line between the temperature sensor and the heat source. The further check on the measurement of heat flux using a
temperature measurements shall be recorded continuously to water-cooled calorimeter would be to use a different mass flow
verify that steady-state operation has been achieved. Reference of water through the calorimeter for different test runs. No
(2) lists a variety of commercially available temperature significant difference in heat-flux measurements should be
sensors. Temperature sensors which are applicable include noted with the change in water flow rate for different test runs.
liquid-in-glass thermometers, thermopiles, thermocouples, and
7. Heat-Flux Calculation
thermistors. During operation of the heat source, care should be
taken to minimize deposits on the temperature sensors and to 7.1 The quantities as defined by Eq 1 shall be calculated
eliminate any possibility of sensor heating because of specimen based on the bulk or average temperature rise of the coolant
radiation to the sensor. In addition, all water lines should be water for each water-cooled section of the calorimeter. The
shielded from direct-flow impingement or radiation from the choice of units shall be consistent with the measured quantities.
test environment. 7.2 Variance analyses of heat-source conditions shall pro-
5.3.1 If at all practical a thermocouple shall be placed on the vide a sound basis for estimation of the reproducibility of the
water-cooled side of the heated calorimeter surface. Although thermal environment. Refs (4) and (5) may provide a basis for
this surface temperature (water side) measurement is not used error analysis of the measurements.
directly in the calculation of heat flux it is necessary for the
calculation of the surface temperature (front face) used in the 8. Report
correction of the measured heat flux to walls of different 8.1 In reporting the results of the measurement tests, the
temperatures. following steady-state data shall be reported:
5.4 Recording Means: 8.1.1 Dimensions of the calorimeter configuration active
5.4.1 Since measurement of the energy transfer requires that surface and guard ring,
the calorimeter operate as a steady state device, all calculations 8.1.2 Calorimeter coolant water flow rate,
will use only measurements taken after it has been established 8.1.3 Temperature rise of calorimeter coolant water,
that the device has achieved steady operating levels. To assure 8.1.4 Calculated heat flux,
steady flow or operating conditions the above mentioned 8.1.5 Front surface temperature (if measured or calculated),
parameters shall be continuously recorded such that instanta- and
neous measurements are available to establish a measure of 8.1.6 Variance of results.
steady-state operation. Wherever possible it is highly desirable
that the differential temperature (∆T) be made of the desired 9. Measurement Uncertainty
parameters rather than absolute measurements. 9.1 There are a number of methods that can be used for the
5.4.2 In all cases, parameters of interest, such as water flow determination of measurement uncertainty. A recent summary
rates and cooling water temperature rises should be automati- of the various uncertainty analysis methods is provided in Ref
cally recorded throughout the measurement period. Recording (6). The American Society of Mechanical Engineers’
speed or sampling frequency will depend on the variations of (ASME’s) earlier performance test code PTC 19.1-1985 (7) has
the parameters being recorded. When a strip chart recorder is been revised and was replaced by Ref (8) in 1998. In Refs (7)
used, the response time of the recorder shall be 1 s or less for and (8), uncertainties were separated into two types: “bias” or
full-scale deflection. Timing marks should be an integral part “systematic” uncertainties (B) and “random” or “precision”
of the recorder with a minimum requirement of 1/s. uncertainties (S). Systematic uncertainties (Type B) are often

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 E422 − 05 (2016)
(but not always) constant for the duration of the experiment. 9.5.7 Positioning errors.
Random uncertainties are not constant and are characterized 9.5.8 Angular errors.
via the standard deviation of the random measurements, thus 9.6 Additional uncertainty can be attributed to the engineer-
the abbreviation ‘S.’ ing application of the thermocouple transducer to the
9.2 ASME’s new standard (8) proposes use of the following environment, or material, of interest. Specific examples in-
model: clude:
1
U 95 5 6t 95 @ ~ B T /2 ! 2 1 ~ S T ! 2 # 2 (2)
9.6.1 Contact between a thermocouple and its environment,
or thermal contact conductance between the bead and material.
where t95 is determined from the number of degrees of The contact conductance must be characterized to analyze the
freedom (DOF) in the data provided. For large DOF (that is, 30 bead transient response versus the environment.
or larger) t95 is almost 2. BT is the total bias or systematic 9.6.2 Radiation versus convective heat transfer of the envi-
uncertainty of the result, ST is the total random uncertainty or ronment versus heat transferred to the bead. The bead emis-
precision of the result, and t95 is “Student’s t” at 95 % for the sivity must be known or estimated for incident radiative
appropriate degrees of freedom (DOF). environment calculations.
9.3 This test method requires the measurement of water 9.6.3 Time response of the thermocouple bead (or probe)
flow rate, temperature difference, and sensing surface area. The versus the estimated transient thermal environment to be
water flow rate measurement can be made with fundamentally measured to ensure the TC is not too slow to measure gradients
different methods such as differential pressure across an orifice of interest.
or an in-line turbine correlating vane velocity to flow rate. The 9.6.4 Position location uncertainty of the TC junction must
successful application of this test method requires the user to be known to perform material response analysis. The uncer-
perform an uncertainty analysis on the specific steady state tainty of temperature measurement location will propagate
water flow rate instrument used ((9, 10). In the case of sensing error into material response calculations.
surface area, length measurement techniques with their uncer- 9.6.5 When using mineral-insulated, metal-sheathed
tainties are well documented (10). thermocouples, the TC wires are surrounded with the metal
sheath to keep the TC wires from shorting, melting, and so
9.4 In the case of a temperature measurement ((9, 11)) with
forth. But in doing so, the TC measuring junction is insulated
a thermocouple, types of systematic uncertainties are mounting
from the environment being measured, and the measurement
errors, non-linearity, and gain. Less commonly discussed
will have some thermal lag. The TC thermal lag is increasingly
systematic uncertainties are those that result from the sensor
worse as the transient environment becomes faster.
design (that is, TC junction type) and coupling with the
environment. Types of random uncertainty are common mode 9.7 It is important to realize that any transducer has finite
and normal mode noise. mass and heat transfer characteristics. Therefore, the thermo-
9.5 To quantify the total uncertainty of a measurement, the couple (for example) will read a temperature different from the
entire measurement system must be examined. For a thermo- surface you are measuring. In a well-designed experimental
couple measurement the following uncertainty sources must be system the difference between the “true” temperature and the
considered: TC reading can be reduced to acceptable values. Errors are not
9.5.1 Thermocouple wire accuracy. zero or negligible, but acceptable from an uncertainty budget
9.5.2 Thermocouple connectors. perspective. The main point is uncertainty exists, and, it must
9.5.3 Thermocouple extension cable. be quantified to produce meaningful data.
9.5.4 Thermocouple mounting error (transient and steady).
9.5.5 Data acquisition system (DAS). 10. Keywords
9.5.6 Conversion equation (mV to temperature). 10.1 calorimeter; heat flux; heat transfer rate

REFERENCES

(1) Pope, R. B., Stagnation-Point Convective Heat Transfer in Frozen (6) Dieck, R. H., “Measurement Uncertainty Models,” ISA Transactions,
Boundary Layers, AIAA Journal, Vol g, No. 4, April 1968, pp. Vol. 36, No.1, 1997, pp. 29–35.
619–626. (7) ANSI/ASME PTC 19.1-1985, “Part 1, Measurement Uncertainty,
(2) ISA Transducer Compendium, A Publication of Instrument Society of Instruments and Apparatus,” Supplement to the ASME Performance
America, Plenum Press, 1963. Test Codes, reaffirmed 1990.
(3) Considine, D. M., Process Instruments and Controls Handbook, (8) ASME PTC 19.1-1998, “Test Uncertainty, Instruments and
McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1957. Apparatus,” Supplement to the ASME Performance Test Codes, 1998.
(4) Brownlee, K. A., Statistical Theory and Methodology in Science and (9) Doebelin, E. O., Measurement Systems Application and Design,
Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1960. McGraw-Hill, 1983.
(5) Hald, A., Statistical Theory with Engineering Applications, John (10) Holman, J.P., Experimental Methods for Engineers, McGraw-Hill,
Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1952. 1978.

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 E422 − 05 (2016)
(11) Manual on the Use of Thermocouples in Temperature Measurement, (12) Coleman, H. W. and Steele, W. G., “Engineering Application of
ASTM Manual Series: MNL 12, Revision of Special Technical Experimental Uncertainty Analysis,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 33, No. 10,
Publication (STP) 470B, ASTM International, 1993. October 1995, pp. 1888–1896.

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