Investigation of the British pendulum calibration uncertainty by Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

The paper presents the evaluation of the calibration uncertainty of the British pendulum slip resistance tester using Monte Carlo simulation method. A mathematical model was produced which describes pendulum behavior based on its calibration parameters. The Monte Carlo simulation, programmed in Python, was used for simulating the effect of each of the calibration parameters adjustment within their tolerance intervals, with uniform and triangular probability distribution. Four different tolerance limits were compared: limits from a current international standard, a proposition with reduced limits from recent literature, and two novel propositions, one with reduced but easily achievable limits, and a second one for best practically achievable limits. The results of the simulation show a fundamental standard uncertainty contribution of about 2.8% for pendulum calibration according to current standard limits. Furthermore, they suggest a possible improvement to 0.5%–0.7% as its best practical direct calibration standard uncertainty for reduced limits.