Water tools
UV dose in a collimated beam test, with its uncertainty
The collimated beam is how UV dose-response is measured. The dose is intensity times time, corrected for the light the water absorbs, the surface reflects and the dish spreads unevenly.
How it works
- UV dose, mJ/cm²
- incident intensity at the surface, mW/cm²
- exposure time, s
- reflectance at the water surface
- Petri factor
- absorptivity of the sample, 1/cm
- sample depth, cm
- lamp centreline to liquid surface, cm
- transmittance through 1 cm, %
- dose uncertainty, mJ/cm²
- uncertainty of input i
- input i
The water factor averages Beer-Lambert absorption over the sample depth; the divergence factor accounts for the beam spreading between the surface and the bottom. The root-sum-of-squares uncertainty is used because the errors are unlikely to peak together; the conservative dose subtracts it. Typical absorbance: groundwater and filtered water 0.01 to 0.07 per cm, raw surface water up to 0.3. Field reactors deliver a dose distribution and are validated by biodosimetry against the collimated beam curve.
Related reading
These calculators use standard published formulas and are provided for preliminary engineering guidance. Confirm against measured data and vendor projections before design. Model your full water matrix in Nepti or post your project to compare provider proposals.