HEAT-TRANSFER MEASUREMENTS IN THE 1977 KILAUEA LAVA FLOW, HAWAII

The Sept-Oct 1977 eruption of Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, produced a river of basaltic lava which flowed for several days. A heat transfer probe containing two heat flux gauges measured the conduction-dominant heat transfer rates from molten lava into a cold probe inserted in an eddy in the lava river. During a 5-min test period the primary heat flux gauge indicated transient-decaying conduction-dominant heat flux ranging from 200 kW/m2 down to 50 kW/m2. A secondary heat flux gauge verified that convective heat flux rates, due to either natural or forced convection in the eddy, were of the order of 10 kW/m2 or less. Theoretical calculations of the expected conduction-dominant heat transfer rates between the lava and the probe agree with the experimental data from the primary gauge to within an error of 20% or less.-Author