A Measurement Tool for Investigating Cooling Lava Properties

This paper presents the development and uncertaintycharacterization of a system for the direct measurement of heattransfer in cooling lava. The system continuously measures the parametersinvolved in the cooling process and, particularly, in theformation of the crust. The aim is to allow the future developmentof a physical model of the cooling process itself. In order to realizea system that will be effective in such a hostile environment,the principles on which the instruments for radiation thermometryare based have been thoroughly investigated. A virtual instrumenthas been developed, interfacing the measuring system and theuser, processing the incoming data, and producing an estimate ofthe uncertainty of the measurement chain. The various sources ofuncertainty have been taken into account to produce an accurateestimate of the uncertainty associated with the measured data. Theresults of experimental tests are presented.