Determination of thermal contact resistance from transient temperature measurements

The temperature distribution in combustion engine components is highly influenced by thermal contact resistance. For the prediction and optimisation of the thermal behaviour of modern combustion engines knowledge about the contact heat transfer is crucial. Available correlations to predict the contact resistance are simplifications of the real geometric conditions and only tested for moderate pressures up to 7 MPa. Typical combustion engine applications include contact pressures up to 250 MPa. The experimental approach presented here to derive the thermal contact resistance in terms of contact heat transfer coefficients for high temperature and high pressure conditions is based on transient infrared temperature measurements. Two bodies initially at two different temperatures are brought in contact and the surface temperature histories are recorded with a high-speed infrared camera. The contact heat flux is calculated by solving the related inverse problem. From the contact heat flux and from the measured temperature jump at the interface the contact heat transfer coefficient is calculated. The inverse method used for the calculation of the heat flux is based on the analytical solution for a semi-infinite body and a step response to a Neumann boundary condition. This method provides an algorithm that is used in a sequential manner. The use of “future” temperature data greatly improve the stability of the governing equations and reduce the sensitivity to measurement errors.