Roman Furnace Project 2005: Thermal Imaging Photographs

Introduction ('Home')    Thermal Imaging Photographs    Woodpile and Ash Pits

Covering the Pot Furnace    Photographs of Pots    Photographs of Glass Waste    Photographs of Glass Vessels

Pot Furnace    Tank Furnace    Annealing Oven

Thermal images are images created from readings taken in the infra-red radiation band (i.e. below the wavelength of the colour red and perceived as heat). The thermal images on these pages were taken by Radir.

The thermal imaging camera was set to a maximum of 255°C, and images of the outer surfaces of the furnaces and oven were taken.

Each image is opposite its corresponding photograph and the scale (different for each image) is positioned at the left hand side of each image.

The surface temperatures agreed well with those we recorded using a surface temperature reader (a type K thermocouple).

Interesting points to note are:

• sharp recesses (holes, numerals) show up as hot spots
  
  
• cracks that have been plugged show the plugs as cooler
  
  
• the ground surface temperature is at about 100°C next to the pot furnace, cooling to about 50°C about 15cm away from the wall
  
  
• the images also show normally invisible hot gases emanating from some of the open gathering holes.

"If you build it, they will come."