Dynamic calibration of piezoelectric transducers for ballistic high-pressure measurement

Abstract

Abstract. The development of a dynamic calibration standard for high-amplitude pressure piezoelectric transducers implies the implementation of a system which can provide reference pressure values with known characteristics and uncertainty. The reference pressure must be issued by a sensor, as a part of a measuring chain, with a guaranteed traceability to an international standard. However, this operation has not been completely addressed yet until today and is still calling further investigations. In this paper, we introduce an experimental study carried out in order to contribute to current efforts for the establishment of a reference dynamic calibration method. A suitable practical calibration method based on the calculation of the reference pressure by measurement of the displacement of the piston in contact with an oil-filled cylindrical chamber is presented. This measurement was achieved thanks to a high speed camera and an accelerometer. Both measurements are then compared. In the first way, pressure was generated by impacting the piston with a free falling weight and, in the second way, with strikers of known weights and accelerated to the impact velocities with an air gun. The aim of the experimental setup is to work out a system which may generate known hydraulic pressure pulses with high-accuracy and known uncertainty. Moreover, physical models were also introduced to consolidate the experimental study. The change of striker's velocities and masses allows tuning the reference pressure pulses with different shapes and, therefore, permits to sweep a wide range of magnitudes and frequencies.

Comparing the adiabatic and isothermal pressure dependence of the index of refraction in a drop-weight apparatus

“…Several principles have been used to construct devices for the non-destructive generation of strong pressure pulses, i.e., stronger than can in general be reached by shock tubes [14,15]. They include, for example, fast opening valves [7], the use of a commercial drop-weight apparatus [16], a dropweight apparatus designed for secondary calibrations using two piezoelectric sensors [8,17], a drop-weight apparatus measuring pressure via the monitoring of the deceleration of the piston [9,18,19], an air gun [16], a pressure-tank setup [10], or optical absorption spectroscopy [11]. Diamond anvil cells [20], well known for the very high pressures they can exert on small samples, necessarily need to be smallvolume devices, too small to permit attaching a customer's transducer (typical sensor casings use M10 or M12 threads).…”

Dynamic characterisation of pressure transducers using shock tube methods

“…One such application is the measurement of pressure within automotive engine cylinders to improve understanding of the combustion process, enabling engine efficiency optimisation (Wang et al, 2015). At present, the calibration of such pressure measurement systems is performed against static pressure standards, as dynamic pressure standards of both the required amplitude and frequency content are not readily available, although work is underway at various laboratories around the world to remedy this situation (Elkarous et al, 2016).…”

Design, performance evaluation and analysis of the inlet tube of pressure sensor for chamber pressure measurement

“…The different types of equipment used for dynamic calibration of pressure sensors are discussed with principles and limitations (Theodoro et al, 2018;Zafer et al, 2017;Damion, 1994). Elkarous et al (2016) have demonstrated the calibration setup using hydraulic pressure pulse generator to evaluate dynamic parameters of ballistic pressure transducers. The dynamic pressure calibrator using the microphone as a reference standard is demonstrated by Feero et al (2018).…”