Heat transfer error analysis of high-temperature wall temperature measurement using thermocouple

Thermocouples are widely employed as the temperature measuring element for an aero-engine. However, due to the unique characteristics of the aero-engine test environment, there exist significant temperature measurement errors of the thermocouple. The steady-state heat transfer error of the thermocouple can be attributed to convection heat transfer error, wire heat transfer error, and radiation heat transfer error. The flow and heat transfer process of wall temperature measurements using armored K-type thermocouples were simulated numerically by Fluent software at the Mach number of 0.1–0.5 and the temperature of 700∼1200 K. The results indicate that convective error accounts for more than 55 % of the total transfer error. To reduce excessive temperature measurement errors, a novel airflow stagnation cover structure around the thermocouple was presented. When the diameter of the stagnation cover is 2 mm, the error of the thermocouple is reduced to less than 1 %.