Numerical Analysis of a Radiant Heat Flux Calibration System

Heat flux gauges are one of the devices that are used to determine the heat loads to which high-speed aerospace structures are subjected during flight. Prior to installation, these gauges are calibrated. The calibration system must be well understood if the heat flux gauges are to provide useful data during flight tests. A pseudo three-dimensional model of the radiant heat flux gauge calibration system was developed. The radiant heat flux gauge calibration system consists of a graphite plate heater and a circular foil heat flux gauge. The numerical model simulates the combined convection, radiation, and mass loss by chemical reaction on the graphite plate surface. It can be used to identify errors due to heater element erosion, and the deviations in the predicted heat fluxes due to uncertainties in various physical parameters of the system. A fourth-order finite difference scheme is used to solve the steady-state governing equations and to determine the temperature distribution in the gauge and the graphite plate, the incident heat flux on the gauge face, and the flat plate erosion. Initial gauge heat flux predictions from the model are found to be within ±5% of experimental results.