FLOW-THROUGH A HIGHLY POROUS ANISOTROPIC MULTIFILAMENT KNIT

Experimental results for isothermal Newtonian flow through a high poro sity anisotropic porous medium are provided. The porous medium is form ed by a knitted stainless steel wire mesh rolled up to form a cylindri cal plug. This kind of porous medium is generally used as a mist elimi nator in the chemical and petroleum industries. Experimental results a re compared with pressure drop predictions obtained with a theoretical pore-scale method. The model allows for anisotropy and is applied pre dictively over both the Darcy and non-Darcy regimes, requiring only th at the porosity, dimensions of the wire and characteristic lengths of the plug be known. The predictions compare reasonably well with the ex perimental results.