Abstract
Sintered metal porous media currently plays an important role in air bearing systems. When flowing through porous media, the flow properties are generally represented by incompressible Darcy-Forchheimer regime or Ergun regime. In this study, a modified Ergun equation, which includes air compressibility effects, is developed to describe friction characteristic. Experimental and theoretical investigations on friction characteristic are conducted with a series of metal-sintered porous media. Re = 10 is selected as the boundary for a viscous drag region and a form drag region. Experimental data are first used to determine the coefficient α in the viscous drag region, and then the coefficient β in the form drag region, rather than both simultaneously. Also, the theoretical mass flow rate in terms of the modified Ergun equation provides close approximations to the experimental data. Finally, it is also known that both the air compressibility and inertial effects can obviously enhance the pressure drop.
Highlights
Air flow through porous media is universal in a broad range of industrial equipments, e.g., filters, heat exchanges, catalytic reactors and pneumatic silencers
This study provides an insight into the determination of friction characteristic for airflow through sintered metal porous media
An experimental setup was established to measure the pressure drop versus flow rate through porous media, and a few samples were tested within the laminar region
Summary
Air flow through porous media is universal in a broad range of industrial equipments, e.g., filters, heat exchanges, catalytic reactors and pneumatic silencers. In addition to the use of Forchheimer equation, Dukhan [18] verified the validity of the Ergun-type relationship to characterize pressure drop with respect to flow velocity and confirmed that both permeability and inertial coefficient correlate well with porosity. Oiwa et al [27] developed air conveyor systems that use sintered metal porous air supply pads In these applications, air compressibility cannot be ignored, and the conventional correlation of friction characteristics needs to be reconstructed. Forchheimer equation to represent the pressure drop characteristic for a series of metal sintered porous media, but the feasibility in terms of the Ergun equation is not yet known and needs to be confirmed. Several sintered metal porous resistances were tested, and the effectiveness of the proposed correlation was experimentally verified
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