Analytical expressions for predicting permeability of bimodal fibrous porous media

• Published in: Chemical engineering science Vol. 64; no. 6; pp. 1154 - 1159
• Main Authors: Vahedi Tafreshi, H., A Rahman, M.S., Jaganathan, S., Wang, Q., Pourdeyhimi, B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 16.03.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Bimodal media; Chemical engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Fibrous media; Filters; Hydrodynamics of contact apparatus; Permeability modeling; Fibrous media; Permeability modeling; Filters; Bimodal media; Fibrous material; Porous medium; Prediction; Hydrodynamics; Permeability; Modeling; Design; Particle size distribution; Powder technology; Pressure drop; Glass fiber; Microstructure; Stokes flow; Fiber filter
• ISSN: 0009-2509; 1873-4405
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ces.2008.11.013

Pressure drop is one of the most important characteristics of a fibrous media. While numerous analytical, numerical, and experimental published works are available for predicting the permeability of media made up of fibers with a unimodal fiber diameter distribution (referred to as unimodal media here), there are almost no easy-to-use expressions available for media with a bimodal fiber diameter distribution (referred to as bimodal media). In the present work, the permeability of bimodal media is calculated by solving the Stokes flow governing equations in a series of 3-D virtual geometries that mimic the microstructure of fibrous materials. These simulations are designed to establish a unimodal equivalent diameter for the bimodal media thereby taking advantage of the existing expressions of unimodal materials for permeability prediction. We evaluated eight different methods of defining an equivalent diameter for bimodal media and concluded that the area-weighted average diameter of Brown and Thorpe [2001. Glass-fiber filters with bimodal fiber size distributions. Powder Technology 118, 3–9], volume-weighted resistivity model of Clague and Phillips [1997. A numerical calculation of the hydraulic permeability of three dimensional disordered fibrous media. Physics of Fluids 9 (6), 1562–1572], and the cube root relation of the current paper offer the best predictions for the entire range of mass (number) fractions, 0 ⩽ n c ⩽ 1 , with fiber diameter ratios, 1 ⩽ R cf ⩽ 5 , and solidities, 5 ⩽ α ⩽ 15 .