Calibration of Gardon Gage Heat Flux Sensors by a Radiative Source

Measurement of heat flux are usually performed in ground facilities as wind tunnels. A typical sensor used is the Gardon gage that may be installed on models in order to determine the heat flux distribution on the surface. At CIRA those sensors are used in the plasma wind tunnels SCIROCCO and GHIBLI. They are applied in the facilities Calibration Probes for the qualification of the plasma-jet during the development of the test run or to investigate the flow uniformity in the cross section of the plasma-jet at the exit section of the conical nozzle. In order to check the proper operation of the Gardon gage sensors it is necessary to have a system able to generate a known heat flux intensity. In the present work a system is shown allowing the verification of Gardon gage sensors with range of 0-250 kW/m2 and 0-500 kW/m2. The analysis of the system accuracy has been also performed with the application of the �uncertainty propagation law�. Moreover, a CFD analysis has been developed to determine the radiative component of the total heat flux measured by the sensors.