Estimation of uncertainty of effective area of a pneumatic pressure reference standard using Monte Carlo method

Abstract

The current paper presents a comparative investigation of the experimental as well as simulated evaluation of effective area and the associated uncertainties, of a pneumatic pressure reference standard (NPLI-4) of CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, India, (NPLI). The experimental evaluation has been compared to the simulated estimation of the effective area obtained through Monte Carlo method (MCM). The Monte Carlo method has been applied by taking fixed number of trials (FMCM) and also by trials chosen adaptively (AMCM). The measurement uncertainties have been calculated using the conventional method, i.e., law of propagation of uncertainty (LPU) as well as MCM. Experimentally, the NPLI-4 has cross-floated against our newly established pneumatic primary pressure standard (NPLI-P10), which is a large diameter piston gauge. An excellent agreement in effective area and measurement uncertainty has been observed between these approaches.