Qualification of an ultrasonic flow meter as a transfer standard for measurements at Reynolds numbers up to 4×106 between NMIJ and PTB

The quality of any laboratory intercomparison depends to a large extent on the performance of the used flow meter. To find a flow meter that is capable of reaching a reproducibility better than 0.05% requires bounding all involved influence quantities down to the required level. The present paper describes the efforts performed while qualifying a time-of-flight ultrasonic flow meter as a transfer standard. It was determined that the most relevant influence quantity besides the flow profile within the bulk flow is the effect caused by the transducer pockets in the meter body. By taking advantage of a specially designed window chamber, it was possible to determine the magnitude of the errors introduced by the transducer pockets and to define, based on the findings, a procedure to perform a bilateral comparison between the hot water calibration facilities of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The results of the bilateral comparison are presented.