ISSN 1810-2328, Journal of Engineering Thermophysics, 2010, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 17–22.


c Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2010.

Numerical Estimation of Errors of Temperature Measurements

by Thermocouples Using Special Glues and Pastes
G. V. Kuznetsov* and K. M. Mukhammadeev**
Tomsk Polytechnic University, pr. Lenina 30, Tomsk, 634050 Russia
Received July 29, 2009

Abstract—Results of numerical modeling the temperature fields in a thermocouple junction with an

ideal junction–material contact and with a gap filled with a special glue (or paste) near any boundary
of the junction are presented. The influence of the conditions of the thermocouple–material surface
contact on the temperature measurement error is estimated.

DOI: 10.1134/S1810232810010030

It has been found [1] that truncation errors of temperature measurements by thermocouples in
the conditions of intensive heating and nonideal contact with the material surface for nonstationary
processes can reach 10 to 15% in the presence of air gaps. These errors can frequently be reduced using
special glues and pastes with a high thermal conduction [2]. Meanwhile, in measuring temperatures
in metal structures, values of the thermal conductivity (λ) of sufficiently heat-conducting glues and
pastes remain in any case several times smaller than the corresponding λ for metals. For this reason,
it is necessary to estimate the temperature measurement errors caused by a nonideal thermocouple
junction–material contact. Up to now, no experimental or theoretical analysis of such measurement
errors has been carried out. The aim of our work is numerical modeling of the thermal conductivity
process in a multiply connected region representing a system of material–thermocouple–glue-filled gap
and estimation of the temperature measurement error.
The problem under consideration is of great practical importance because its resolution will make
it possible to propose recommendations concerning the time of measurements ensuring minimal errors
and also the reliability of results obtained in investigation of fast processes. During the investigation,
the error introduced by the nonideal thermocouple junction contact was determined as a thermocouple
temperature difference with ideal and nonideal contacts with the material used in the measurements.
The relative temperature measurement error was determined by the formula
|Tj ni − Tji |
δT = · 100%,
Tj i

where Tj i and Tjni are temperatures of the thermocouple junction with ideal and nonideal thermocouple–
material contacts, respectively, K.
Figure 1 shows a geometric model of the decision domain for ideal and nonideal contacts of the
thermocouple junction with the material surface. Meanwhile, the presence of a gap was considered not
only around the contact of two thermocouple thermal electrodes, but also near each boundary of the
junction that has a rectangular profile in the problem. The thermocouple electrodes are structurally
homogeneous, but made of materials with different thermophysical properties. The thermocouple is
packed into the material. The thermophysical properties of the thermocouple junction comply with
arithmetic means of the corresponding thermophysical properties of thermocouple electrodes.
*
E-mail: savost@tpu.ru
**
E-mail: mukhammadeev@tpu.ru

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18 KUZNETSOV, MUKHAMMADEEV

Fig. 1. A geometric model of the decision domain: (a) ideal thermocouple junction–material contact; (b) nonideal. 1—
Material sample; 2—positive thermoelectrode; 3—negative thermoelectrode; 4—thermocouple junction; 5—gap filled
with air or glue; d—decision domain size along Y ; L—decision domain size along X.

Thermalphysics performance of materials [4–6]

Material Thermal conductivity Specific heat Density

λ, W/(m·K) c, J/(kg·K) ρ, kg/m3
Material whose temperature is measured
Steel 20 40 430 7800
Aluminaboronitride ceramics 16 1100 3000
Positive thermoelectrode
Alumel 32.7 942 8625
Tungsten-rhenium alloy (5% rhenium)—VR5 167 133 19385
Negative thermoelectrode
Chromel 16 451 8750
Tungsten-rhenium alloy (20% rhenium)—VR20 148 134 19640
Thermocouple junction
TKhA 24.4 696 8688
VR5/VR20 157 134 19513
Substance filling the gap
Air 0.02 1005 1.205
Glue 0.70 1500 1200

Numerical analysis of the temperature fields was done for thermophysical characteristics listed in
the table. The temperature field of the material–thermocouple–gap system was simulated via numerical
solution by the finite-difference method [3] of the set of differential nonstationary thermal conductivity
equations written for each element of the structure as:
   
∂Ti ∂ ∂Ti ∂ ∂Ti
ci · ρi · = λi · + λi · ,
∂t ∂x ∂x ∂y ∂y

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 NUMERICAL ESTIMATION OF ERRORS OF TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS 19

t > 0, 0 < x < L, 0 < y < d, i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

where ρi is the density, ci is the specific heat, λi is the thermal conductivity, and i is the material index.
While solving, we applied a nonuniform difference mesh thickened in the zone of the thermocouple
measurements. The mathematical model includes the initial condition: t = 0; T = T0 and the boundary
conditions: equality to zero of temperature gradients at all boundaries except for y = d. At the boundary
y = d, we imposed conditions of the third kind:
∂T
x = 0, x = L, = 0;
∂x
∂T
y = 0, = 0;
∂y

∂T1  
y = d, λ1 · = α · Tv − T1 |y=d .
∂y
In numerical modeling, the geometric parameter values were: d = 10 mm, L = 40 mm, thermocouple
junction of 1 × 1 mm, thermoelectrode thickness was 0.5 mm, and the gap thickness was 0.3 mm.
A nonideal thermocouple junction–material contact influences the temperature deviation in the
center of the junction, compared with the case of an ideal contact in the initial period of temperature
measurement. The dependence of the relative temperature measurement error in the case of nonideal
contact is nonlinear. Figure 2 shows the relative error of temperature measurements as a function of
time for a chromel-alumel thermocouple for a gap filled with glue for ensuring glue bonding of the
thermocouple in the material. This dependence is characterized by a prominent extreme value. The cause
of the extreme temperature measurement error is that the thermal conductivity coefficient of the glue
filling the gap in the case of a nonideal thermocouple junction–material contact is much less than that of
the thermal conductivity of the material whose temperature is to be measured. With time, the substance
that fills in the gap is heated and the temperature measurement error decreases toward zero. It has been
observed that when the thermocouple is fixed by a glue (Figs. 3 and 4) the maximal relative error caused
by the nonideal contact decreases insignificantly, compared to the case of the air-filled gap, meanwhile,
the time of reaching the maximal error does not practically depend on the substance that fills in the gap.
The error of thermocouple measurements also depends on the gap thickness. The maximal error grows
with increasing gap thickness.
Figures 3 and 4 represent results of numerical modeling of temperature fields for the steel–
thermocouple–gap system at a heating temperature of 573 K. Analyzing the results of mathematical

Fig. 2. Relative temperature measurement error as a function of time at different positions of the glue-filled gap: 1—gap
from the heated side, 2—gap from the cold side of the junction, 3—gap from both sides of the junction, 4—gap around
the junction.

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Fig. 3. Maximal relative temperature measurement error as a function of gap thickness. Solid lines—air gap, dashed
lines—glue-filled gap: 1—gap from the heated side, 2—gap from the cold side of the junction, 3—gap from both sides
of the junction.

Fig. 4. Maximal temperature measurement error as a function of heat transfer coefficient. Solid lines—air gap, dashed
lines—glue-filled gap: 1—gap from the heated side, 2—gap from the cold side of the junction, 3—gap from both sides
of the junction, 4—gap around the junction.

modeling of the nonstationary thermal conductivity for the system, we have revealed that as the heating
temperature on the material surface is decreased, the heat-transfer factor being constant, the maximal
relative error of temperature measurements decreases. The measurement error is affected most of all by
a gap filled in with air or glue (hot paste) around the entire surface of thermocouple junction. When
the gap is less than 30% of junction thickness, the influence on the temperature measurement error is
insignificant and may be ignored in experiments. The results obtained in numerical modeling show that
with a gap present from the heated side and from the “cold side” of the thermocouple junction, using the
glue, the temperature measurement error is a bit higher than for the air gap.
In the course of mathematical modeling, we assessed the influence of α on the material surface on the
temperature measurement error for a nonideal contact. It has been found that the error increases as α
grows. At a high intensity of heating the material sample, due to the low thermal conductivity coefficient
of the substance filling the gap between the thermocouple junction and the material sample (air and

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 NUMERICAL ESTIMATION OF ERRORS OF TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS 21

Fig. 5. Maximal relative error of temperature measurements in the aluminoboronnitride ceramics sample by a
VR5/VR20 thermocouple versus heat transfer coefficient. A solid line—the air gap, a dashed line—the glue-filled gap.

Fig. 6. Maximal relative error of temperature measurements in the aluminoboronnitride ceramics sample by a TKhA
thermocouple versus heat transfer coefficient. A solid line—the air gap, a dashed line—the glue-filled gap.

glue) we do not obtain a sufficient rate of heating the thermocouple junction, thus, the temperature
measurement error grows.
We also investigated the influence of a nonideal contact on the temperature measurement error
for aluminaboronitride ceramics. This ceramics is promising for fabricating gas-turbine plants [7].
The influence of the coefficient of heat transfer on a sample surface was analyzed in temperature
measurements by tungsten-rhenium thermocouples (VR5/VR20) (Fig. 5) and TChA thermocouples
(chromel-alumel thermocouples) (Fig. 6). The gap between the material surface and the thermocouple
junction was also filled with either air or glue. The ambient temperature in the calculations was 1073 K.
The obtained results show that for a VR5/VR20 thermocouple, the maximal relative measurement
error for the glue-filled gap is even higher than for the air gap. For a TChA thermocouple, the result
is substantially different; the maximal relative error for this thermocouple is greater than that for the
VR5/VR20.
From the obtained results we conclude that the measurement error for usual glues is between 0.5 and
3.2%. The error is maximal in the initial time period and then decreases substantially. Therefore, this

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error should be taken into account in most cases in experimental investigation of the temperature fields
of fast processes.

REFERENCES
1. Kuznetsov, G.V. and Mukhammadeev, K.M., Numerical Estimation of Temperature Measurement Error in
Conditions of Locally Nonideal Contact between Thermocouple and Material, Izv. Tomsk. Polytech. Univ.,
2009, vol. 314, no. 4, pp. 12–16.
2. Gladkikh, S.N., Kuznetsova, L.I., Naumova, L.I., and Vyalov, A.I., Heat-Conducting Glues Based on Modified
Epoxy Resins, Klei. Germetiki. Tekhologii, 2009, no. 3, pp. 8–13.
3. Verzhbitskii, V.M., Osnovy chislennykh methodov (Basis of Numerical Methods), Moscow: Vysshaya
Shkola, 2002.
4. Murin, G.A., Teplotekhnicheskie izmereniya (Thermotechnical Measurements), Moscow: Energiya, 1979.
5. Tablitsy fizicheskikh velichin (Tables of Physical Quantities), Kikoin, I.K., Ed., Moscow: Atomizdat, 1976.
6. Spravochnik po elektrotekhnicheskim materialam (Electroteknical Materials Handbook), Koritskii, Yu.V.,
Ed., Moscow: Energoatomizdat, 1987, vol. 2.
7. Sudarev, A., Tikhoplav, V., Shishov, G., and Katenev, V., High-Temperature Engines Based on Constructional
Ceramics, Gazoturb. Technol., 2000, no. 3, pp. 3–6.

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