Comparison of methods for measuring and investigating water permeability of woven filter media

Abstract

This paper presents, discusses, and compares three methods for measuring the water permeability of metal woven meshes. Two pieces of equipment were designed for this purpose. The first uses declining pressure – falling head method (FHM). The other uses constant pressure – the constant head method (CHM). The results obtained with these two empirical methods were compared with the fluid flow simulation through the studied samples. The results showed that each studied technique provided valuable and unique information for the water permeability investigation. All three techniques were in good agreement when they all worked under turbulent flow conditions. These conditions were observed for the samples whose pore size was above 30 µm. FHM worked only under turbulent flow. Therefore, it was recommended to work with high permeable samples. The samples whose pore size was below 30 µm required laminar flow. CHM could provide these conditions. This method was also the fastest with the lowest standard deviation value. It is recommended as the basis for forming a standard for measuring the water permeability of woven filter media. Data AvailabilityThe datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.