The influence of tube wall on fluid flow, permeability and streaming potential in porous transducer for liquid circular angular accelerometers

Abstract

The effects of the tube wall on the fluid flow, permeability and streaming potential are reported for a porous transducer for use in a liquid circular angular accelerometer. Fluid flow and pressure near the surface of the transducer are modeled and validated numerically. We show that the differential pressure across the transducer is not affected by the tube wall. A capillary bundle model is employed to represent the transducer to obtain the radial porosity, permeability and streaming potential distributions due to wall effects. A simulated spherical packing is generated from measured particle parameters to specify the model by calculating the radial porosity distribution. The theoretical permeability and streaming potential coupling coefficient are located within one standard deviation from the mean of measurements. Due to the radial distribution of streaming potential, the electrode can be configured into a large streaming potential region to measure the signal more efficiently. Three electrode configurations are described based on these results, which can be applied to increase the signal of the sensor.