Investigation of the accuracy of different methods of interferogram analysis for calculation of local free convection heat transfer coefficient on axisymmetric objects

An experimental study using a Mach–Zehnder interferometer has been carried out in order to investigate the accuracy of four different methods of interferogram analysis for obtaining free convection heat transfer coefficient on heated axisymmetric objects. Different methods of reference fringe interferogram analysis can be categorized as classical and transform methods. In transform methods, a mathematical transform method is applied to solve the governing integral equation while in the classical methods the integral equation is approximated by a finite summation. Classical methods are also divided into two groups according to the equations which are based upon. Experiments have been carried out on a vertical isothermal cylinder in air with three different surface temperatures. Four methods of interferogram analysis which are three classical and a transform method have been used to calculate the temperature distributions and the local free convection heat transfer coefficients at different cross sections. In order to investigate the accuracy of the methods, experimental values of the local heat transfer coefficient have been compared with the numerical solution and the mean relative error of each method has been obtained. Results show that the transform method is the most accurate one with the shortest solution time. It is also shown that assuming more complex functions for variation of index of refraction in the classical methods could lead to more accurate results.